C.S.-z'i' 


Sfrtrnt  li|p  ICtbrarg  of 

Ipquf  a%6  by  Ijtm  to 

tl|p  iCibrarg  of 

Prlnrfton  ^lirnlo^tral  S>pmtttar^ 

BX  9593  .N4  K73  1890 
Kremer,  A.  R.  1832-1917. 
A  biographical  sketch  of 
John  Williamson  Nevin. . . 


■^■^'y/i^yf 


£A/e  CO  /^/v/iA 


A  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH 


OF 


O.LLLL 


ULiiiiilliWU  1 1      LMJi  LL^^   ir,  i/.j  ui^.  ly.j 

Doctor  Prsestantissimus. 


BY 

REV.  A.  R.'^KREMER,  A.  M. 


READING,  PA.: 

DANIEL  MILLER,  123  NORTH  SIXTH  STREET. 

1890. 


TO  HIS  SON, 

JOHN  NEVIN  KREMER, 

AND  TO   ALL  OTHERS 

WHO   HAVE    RECEIVED   THE    NAME   OF   THE   DOCTOR    MOST    EMINENT, 

THIS  LITTLE  BOOK  IS  DEDICATED 

BY    THE 

AUTHOR. 


PREFACE. 


One  of  the  most  important  works  that  has  ever  been 
published  is  the  biography  of  John  Williamson  Nevin, 
written  by  his  disciple  and  co-worker,  Theodore  Appel. 
It  is  the  work  of  a  ripe  scholar  and  master  of  the  great 
subject  undertaken  by  him,  and  well  has  he  performed 
his  task.  It  is  a  work  which  required  arduous  painstaking 
and  labor,  though  from  first  to  last  a  labor  of  love,  the 
final  result  being  a  magnificent  monument  to  the  memory 
of  the  grandest  and  noblest  historical  personage  of  the 
present  age. 

All  persons  who  take  a  real  interest  in  the  truth  as  it 
is  in  Jesus,  and  have  made  sufficient  progress  in  Christian 
knowledge  to  grasp  and  appropriate  the  profound  thoughts 
of  Dr.  Nevin,  should  by  all  means  possess  a  copy  of  Dr. 
Appel's  book.  And  this,  no  matter  to  what  demonination 
they  may  belong.  Dr.  Nevin  was  far  above  denomination 
or  Church  party,  a  Catholic  in  the  broadest  and  best  sense, 
who  knew  only  the  Holy  Catholic  and  Apostolic  Church, 
and  no  other.  All  persons  who  can  rise  to  that  plane  of 
Apostolic  Christianity,  or  have  the  mind  and  wish  to  do 
so,  would  be  greatly  benefited  by  reading  Dr.  Appel's 
great  work. 

Then  why  this  little  book  on  the  same  subject  ?  An- 
swer :  Just  because  it  w  a  little  book,   intended  for  people 


VI  PREFACE. 

who  will  never  read  the  great  and  large  one  of  Dr.  Appel. 
This  alone  is  the  humble  author's  reason  for  writing  it. 
He  would  rejoice  exceedingly  if  the  large  work  would  find 
its  way  into  every  intelligent  Christian  household  ;  but 
knowing  that  such  will  not  be  the  case,  he  offers  to  the 
general  public  this  little  book,  with  the  humble  conscious- 
ness of  its  extreme  littleness  as  compared  with  the  great- 
ness of  its  subject.  It  is  written  for  people  who,  after 
reading  it,  it  is  hoped,  will  want  the  other  book.  May  the 
blessing  of  God  rest  upon  this  earnest,  honest,  though  im- 
perfect, design  of  the  AUTHOR. 
Berlin,  Pa.,  June,  181)0. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER.  PAGE. 

I.— UpjK-r    Strasbnrg.       The    Old 
Homestead.     A  Temperance 

Meeting,        ....  9 

II.— At  College,  ....  17 

III. — At  College,  Religious  Interest,  21 
IV. — The  History  of  Twenty-two 
Years  Briefly  Told.  The 
Theological  Student.  The 
Author.  Teacher  of  Hebrew. 
Theological  Professor  and 
Preacher,      .         .         .         .28 

V. — Transition,    ....  40 

VI. — Reformed  and  Presbyterian,      .  45 

VII. — True  and  False  Evangelism,  53 

VIII.— The  Contrast,        ...  69 

IX.— Tlie  Pilot  Steers  Straight,           .  81 

X. — True  Evangelism,          .         ,  87 

XL— Dr.  Philip  Schaff,      ...  91 

XII.— A  Review,    ....  98 
XIII.— A  Ten  Years'  War,            .         .110 


VIII  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER.  PAGE. 

XIV.— A  Speck  of  War,           .  .         120 

XV.— The  Book,         ....    127 

XVI.— The  Mercersburg  Review,  .         141 

XVII.— The  Well  is  Deep,     .         .  .    158 

XVIII.— A  Year  in  Carlisle,        .  .         165 

XIX.— A  Retrospect,    .         .         .  .    180 

XX. — Gigantil)us  Est  Contentio,  .         195 

XXI. — Concluding  Notes,     .         .  .    20U 


CHAPTER  I. 

Upper  Strasburg.— The  Old  Homestead.— A  Tem- 
perance Meeting. 

In  the  shadow  of  what  is  locally  known  as 
the  North  Mountain,  in  Franklin  county,  Pa., 
is  the  village  of  Upper  Strasburg,  a  place  of 
several  hundred  inhabitants.  It  boasts  of  hav- 
ing once  entertained,  for  a  few  hours,  the  "  Fa- 
ther of  his  country" — no  idle  boast,  for  one  of 
the  old  denizens  of  the  neighborhood,  a  perfectly 
truthful  man,  told  me  a  long  time  ago  that  he 
himself,  when  a  boy,  saw  the  great  Washington 
enter  the  village,  where  he  stopjied  for  a  short 
time  at  the  hostlery,  the  only  one  in  the  place.   * 

My  old  friend  was  a  man  of  fervid  patriotism, 
and  there  were  tears  in  his  eyes  when  he  said  : 
^j  "  Yes,  I  sarfi  him  !  He  rode  u^)  to  the  tavern 
/  with  some  other  big  men,  and  I  said  to  my  fa- 
ther, who  held  me  by  the  hand,  *  Who  is  that 
big  man  that  has  just  got  off  his  horse?'  and  he 
answered,  'My  son,  that  is  the  great  and  good 
9. 


10  THE    LIFE    OF 

Washington.'     Yes,  I  saw  our  AVashington,and 
it  does  me  good  to  think  of  it." 

That  was,  perhaps,  the  first  feather  in  the  cap 
of  the  viUage,  which  some  people  thought  al- 
ways carried  a  rather  high  head  for  its  size, 
which  fact  used  to  evoke  from  near  outsiders 
many  a  contemptuous  observation.  Ribald 
jokes  would  frequently  be  indulged  in  at  the 
sore  expense  of  the  villagers,  and  sometimes 
couplets  of  grotesque  doggerel  would  be  com- 
posed by  their  calumniators,  holding  up  the 
supposed  conceited  people  in  an  unfavorable 
light,  and  ridiculing  their  pretensions.  Some 
of  those  mock  verses  were  composed  in  Penn- 
sylvania German,  evidently  to  annoy  as  much 
as  possible  the  Scotch-Irish  element,  which  for 
several  generations  had  held  undisputed  sway  in 
the  village.  It  was  treated  much  like  the  town 
of  Preston,  in  England,  that  was  regarded  by 
the  country  folk  as  unreasonably  proud.  The 
town  had  a  very  high  steeple  on  a  very  low 
church  (and  even  tliat  was  high  theologically)  ; 
the  people  were  not  rich,  but  proud,  proud  of 
something,  the  great  steeple  for  one.  And  it 
was  thus  that  the  poetic  muse  inspired  some  ru- 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN. 


11 


ral  swain  to  express  the  general   sentiment,  on 
the  outside,  in  regard  to  Preston  : 

"Proud  Preston, 
Poor  people ; 
Low  church 
And  high  steeple." 

All  the  same,  however,  the  spirit  of  Strasbiirg, 
like  that  of  Preston,  would  not  down,  but  main- 
tained its  proud  position  against  all  the  satirical 
efforts  of  its  rude  assailants. 

The  fact  is,  Strasburg  was  something  of  an  his- 
torical place,  small  as  it  was,  and  still  is.  Be- 
fore and  after  the  memorable  brief  appearance 
of  Washington  on  its  one  and  only  street,  it  was 
the  centre  and  headquarters  in  a  community 
which  boasted  of  men  of  note,  in  church  and 
state,  and  people  of  respectability  and  character 
in  the  quiet  walks  of  life.  Among  these,  first 
and  foremost  was  the  Nevin  family,  I'esiding 
about  a  mile  and  a  half  from  the  village. 

More  than  forty  years  ago,  when  I  was  a 
small  boy,  an  open-air  temperance  meeting  was 
held  on  the  Nevin  farm.  Temperance  meetings 
in  those  days  were  high  occasions,  and  peoi:»le 
came  for  many  miles  to  attend  them.  Those 
were  the  days  of  Washingtonian  pledges,  won- 


12  THE    LIKE    OF 

derful  conversions  from  drunkenness  to  sobriety, 
and  all  sorts  of  oratory  on  the  temperance  plat- 
form from  all  sorts  of  orators — college  students, 
preachers,  doctors,  lawyers,  and,  the  most  popu- 
lar of  all,  "reformed  drunkards,"  with  their 
tales  of  woe,  frantic  appeals  and  coarse  wit.  On 
this  occasion  the  speakers,  as  previously  trum- 
peted throughout  that  great  valley,  were  my 
eldest  brother.  Rev.  A.  H.  Kremer,  then  a 
young  minister  residing  in  Shippensburg,  on 
the  Franklin  county  side  of  the  town  ;  and  a 
doctor,  who  told  of  the  dreadful  physical  effects 
of  drinking  alcohol. 

My  father,  who  was  a  j^ioneer  in  temperance 
work,  was  there,  of  course,  and  the  whole  fam- 
ily, leaving  only  the  faithful  dog  to  take  care  of 
the  house.  The  meeting  was  held  in  a  beautiful 
little  grove,  a  few  hundred  yards  from  the  old 
Nevin  farm  house,  where  a  platform  had  been 
erected  for  the  speakers  and  men  of  note,  with 
plenty  of  seats  for  the  large  assembly  of  2)eople 
— boards  laid  across  logs,  in  camp-meeting 
fashion. 

This  was  the  only  time  I  ever  saw  the  old 
place  where  Dr.  Nevin's  father  had  lived,  and 
where  the  Doctor  had  s})ent   part  of  his  early 


JOHN    W.    NEVIX.  13 

life.  Some  time  after  that,  my  father,  in  a  con- 
versation with  him,  referred  to  the  place  and 
the  temperance  meeting  in  the  grove — in  which 
young  Nevin  had  doubtless  often  caught  inspira- 
tion for  his  future  work — when  the  Doctor  said  : 
"  Yes,  many  a  hard  day's  work  I  did  on  that 
farm  ;  but  I  enjoyed  it,  and  it  was  of  great  bene- 
fit to  me  in  every  way."  My  father  was  an  ar- 
dent admirer  of  Dr.  Nevin,  and  followed  him 
up  as  closely  as  he  could  in  his  great  career ; 
and  his  small  boys  learned  thus  from  childhood 
to  revere  and  study  the  man  and  his  works. 
My  reverence  for  him  is  therefore  a  family  in- 
heritance ;  and  when  I  was  once  favored  with 
the  opportunity  of  passing  through  and  exam- 
ining the  house  where  he  had  spent  part  of  his 
youth,  and  of  looking  over  the  fields  which  he 
had  helped  to  till,  I  seemed  to  be  on  enchanted 
ground,  wondering  that  such  a  small  boy  would 
dare  to  breathe  the  same  atmosphere  that  once 
filled  the  lungs  of  the  distinguished  President  of 
Marshall  College.  I  had  just  read  in  the  Re- 
formed "  Messenger"  an  article  written  by  one 
of  his  enthusiastic  disciples  at  Mercersburg,  in 
which  the  writer  spoke  of  "  the  world  renowned 
Nevin,"  and  the  words  had  lodged  deep  down  in 


14  THE    LIFE    OF 

my  juvenile  soul.  Here  I  was  now  where  "the 
world  renowned  Nevin"  used  to  be  when  a  farm- 
er's boy — house,  barn,  temperance  grove,  mead- 
ow, Casey's  Run,  and  the  broad  acres  sj^read  out 
before  my  young  vision  as  sacred  to  the  Muses, 
all  seemed  to  me,  if  I  could  have  expressed  it, 
as  if  touched  b}^  a  magic  wand. 

It  was  a  good  providence  that  made  this  the 
early  home  of  Dr.  Nevin.  Had  he  been  born 
and  reared  in  a  large  town  or  city,  it  might  be 
said  that  he  was  blessed  with  superior  advan- 
tages, the  environments  of  social  culture,  and 
ready  means  of  personal  and  educational  im- 
provement. On  the  contrary,  the  real  advan- 
tages were  on  the  farm.  There  was  the  stuff, 
rich  and  ])i\Ye  from  the  lofty  mountain  ranges, 
that  nourished  the  flame  of  his  youthful  life. 
The  exercises  of  farm  industry  are  infinitely 
better  than  dumb  bells,  or  Indian  clubs,  or  any 
of  the  artificial  city  devices  for  the  manufacture 
of  muscle.  These  are  good  for  people  so  unfor- 
tunate as  to  be  deprived  of  the  sights,  sounds 
and  exercises  of  a  farm  located  near  one  of  Penn- 
sylvania's glorious  mountains,  yet  they  are  only 
poor  substitutes  for  the  plow,  pitch-fork  and 
other  instruments  of  husbandry.     It  was  here 


JOHN    W.    NEYIN.  15 

that  Dr.  Nevin  laid  a  good  physical  and  mental 
foundation  for  that  wonderful  and  grand  super- 
structure known  afterwards  in  the  intellectual 
world  as  one  of  its  greatest  representatives. 
There  is  poetry,  as  well  as  hard  sense,  in  the 

old  couplet : 

"God  made  the  country, 
Man  made  the  town." 

In  that  quiet  home,  rural  pursuits  did  not  oc- 
cupy all  the  time  by  any  means,  as  is  too  often 
the  case  in  the  country.  Young  Nevin's  par- 
ents were  persons  of  mental  culture  and  refine- 
ment. The  father  was  a  man  of  learning,  hav- 
ing received  a  liberal  education,  being  a  gradu- 
ate of  Dickinson  College,  and  ranking  in  ability 
while  at  college  with  such  men  as  Roger  B. 
Taney  and  James  Buchanan,  both  Dickinson 
students,  and  of  high  grade.  It  may  be  easily 
inferred,  therefore,  that  the  country  home  of 
young  Nevin  was  a  femily  institution  of  learn- 
ing, and  such  it  really  was.  Here  the  father 
prepared  his  own  sons  for  college,  and  so  thor- 
ough was  the  drill  in  Latin,  Greek  and  mathe- 
matics, that  John  was  prepared  for  the  Fresh- 
man class,  which  he  entered  at  the  early  age  of 
fourteen.  He  worked  on  the  farm  and  studied 
at  intervals,  often  taking  his  books  with  him  to 


16  THE    LIFE    OF 

the  field ;  and  yet,  with  all  such  seeming  dis- 
advantages and  interruptions,  at  the  age  of  four- 
teen was  thoroughly  prepared  to  enter  college  ; 
and  though  the  youngest  of  his  class,  he  was 
equal,  if  not  superior,  to  any  of  his  superiors  in 
age. 

John  Williamson  Nevin,  the  subject  of  this 
biographical  sketch,  was  born  on  the  20th  of 
February,  1803.  His  birth-place  is  not  where 
I  attended  the  temperance  meeting,  but  a  farm 
near  Shippensburg,  his  father  having  removed 
to  the  Upper  Strasburg  farm  some  years  later. 
Here  were  born  a  large  family  of  children,  and 
all,  in  after  years,  were  noted  for  intelligence, 
and  occupied  high  positions  in  state,  society  and 
church.  Dr.  Appel,  in  his  great  work,  gives  a 
full  account  of  this  distinguished  family,  and 
the  reader  is  here  referred  to  that  book  for  in- 
formation as  to  the  Nevin  family  tree.  I  will 
only  say  here  that  Dr.  Nevin  was  of  Scotch- 
Irish  descent,  and  that  his  ancestors  were  of  the 
very  best  stock  and  blood,  in  the  best  sense  of 
the  word.  He  had  a  right  to  be  proud  of  his 
ancestry,  but  his  ancestors  (if  there  is  pride  in 
the  other  world)  have  a  much  better  right  to  be 
proud  of  him.  He  is  the  Alcyone  in  the  centre 
of  the  group  that  bears  his  name. 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN. 


CHAPTER  II. 
At  College. 

As  already  stated,  young  Nevin  entered  the 
Freshman  class  in  college,  after  a  careful  prepara- 
tion by  his  father,  when  he  was  but  fourteen 
years  of  age.  He  had  no  experience  in  the 
usual  preparatory  drill  of  the  academy  or  high 
school.  But  he  had  the  advantage  of  excellent 
home  training,  while  at  the  same  time  his  physi- 
cal powers  were  developed  by  such  work  on  the 
farm  as  was  suitable  to  his  age. 

It  is  not  often  that  a  farm  lad  is  prepared  for 
college  by  his  father.  Not  many  farmers  are 
college  graduates.  It  is  a  pity  that  there  are  so 
few ;  it  is  well  there  are  some ;  and  it  is  well  for 
the  whole  world  to-day  that  farmer  Nevin  was 
one  of  these  few.  If  only  one  out  of  every 
graduating  class  in  our  American  colleges  would 
choose  agriculture  for  his  earthly  pursuit,  take 
to  himself  an  intelligent  and  sensible  wife,  and 
then  settle  down  permanently  on  a  farm — what 
noble  results  there  would  be !     What  a  power 


18  THE    LIFE    OF 

such  farmers  would  be  in  country  places  !  How 
they  would  elevate  the  social  life  in  their  several 
communities !  How  they  might  instruct  their 
less  cultured  neighbors  in  the  science  of  agricul- 
ture, and  in  many  other  things  that  men  of  the 
soil  ought  to  know !  Farmer  Nevin  was  such  a 
man,  and  his  influence  was  felt  all  around.  His 
farm  house  was  a  centre  from  which  flowed  out 
educational  and  refining  influences  in  all  direc- 
tions ;  and  the  neighboring  farmers  were  all  the 
better  for  having  him  in  their  midst. 

But  Mr.  Nevin  was  more  than  a  learned 
farmer.  He  was  what  many  college  graduates 
are  not :  he  was  a  Christian  man,  a  consistent 
member  of  Christ's  mystical  body,  the  Church, 
in  connection  with  the  Middle  Spring  Presby- 
terian congregation,  whose  jilace  of  worship  was 
near  his  home.  He  and  his  excellent  wife  brought 
up  their  children  in  the  faith  of  the  gospel. 
They  gave  them  to  the  Lord  in  His  holy  cov- 
enant of  baptism  in  their  infancy,  thus  j^lanting 
them  in  the  house  of  the  Lord,  that  they  might 
flourish  in  the  courts  of  our  God,  and  carefully 
taught  them  the  lessons  of  our  holy  religion. 

The  influence  of  such  a  man  among  plain 
country  people  could  not  be  otherwise  than  good. 
His  Christian  morality  was  set  in  the  frame- 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN. 


19 


work  of  thorough  mental  culture,  like  apples  of 
gold  in  pictures  of  silver.  He  did  not  use  his 
learning  to  the  disadvantage  of  those  who  were 
not  possessed  of  such  intellectual  power.  His 
neighbors  well  knew  that,  and  that  they  could 
entrust  to  him  any  interest  of  theirs  when  they 
were  in  need  of  direction  and  counsel.  Mental 
culture  is  a  power  for  good  or  evil ;  in  his  case 
it  was  a  power  for  good. 

The  reader  knows  something  now  about  John 
W.  Nevin's  mental  and  moral  outfit  when  he 
entered  Union  College,  in  Schenectady,  New 
York.  A  mere  boy,  and  from  the  country,  he 
was  now  to  associate  with  young  men,  the  most 
of  whom,  perhaps,  were  brought  up  in  town  or 
city,  where  from  their  infancy  they  had  breathed 
the  atmosphere  of  refined  society,  and  were  fa- 
miliar with  no  other.  But  he  was  equal  to  the 
new  demand.  It  matters  little  ivhere  a  youth 
has  been  reared ;  but  it  does  matter  by  whom. 
He  had  a  double  advantage :  he  had  been 
brought  into  daily  contact  with  plain  and  simple- 
minded  people,  who  knew  little  of  the  great 
world  of  humanity,  became  familiar  with  the 
crude  ideas,  thoughts,  emotions  and  simple  as- 
pirations and  virtues  of  the  common  masses,  also 
their  needs  and  the  imj^ortauce  of  their  mental 


20  THE    LIFE   OF 

and  spiritual  elevation  ;  while,  at  the  same  time, 
in  the  home  circle  he  lived  in  a  different  world 
from  theirs,  and  was  separated  from  them  as  if 
by  an  ocean  or  a  continent.  His  own  proper 
life  was  formed  and  moulded  by  the  mental  and 
spiritual  life  of  an  intelligent  Christian  home. 
That  was  far  better  than  to  have  been  brought 
up  amid  the  fashionable  surroundings  of  an 
aristocratic  section  of  a  city.  His  culture  was 
true  and  solid,  and  free  from  any  superfluity  of 
mere  outward  polish.  He  was  not,  therefore,  a 
stranger  to  the  real  humanities  and  refinements 
which  are  the  natural  concomitants  of  true  edu- 
cation ;  so  that,  great  as  was  the  difference  be- 
tween the  home  life  and  rural  scenes  of  his 
childhood  and  the  imposing  presence  of  a  great 
institution  of  learning,  he  received  no  severe 
mental  shock  by  the  sudden  change.  He  was 
constitutionally  modest,  and  even  timid,  and  be- 
ing the  youngest  in  his  class,  it  may  well  be 
supposed  that  it  was  something  of  a  trial  to  him 
at  first  to  be  doomed  to  long  years  of  separation 
from  his  dear  home,  and  something  of  a  task  to 
adaj)t  himself  to  the  new  situation  ;  yet  his  solid 
mental  endowment  and  training  soon  brought 
him  in  full  sympathy  with  the  new  world  which 
he  had  entered. 


JOHN    \V.    NEVIN.  21 


CHAPTEK  III. 

At  College.— Religious  Interest. 

The  thorough  instruction  which  young  Nevin 
had  received  from  his  learned  father,  served  him 
well  at  college,  where  his  standing  was  always 
high,  youthful  as  he  was.  Owing  to  his  natural 
timidity,  he  never  exhibited  what  is  called 
"  dash  ;"  was  not  an  eloquent  debater  in  the  lit- 
erary society  to  which  he  belonged ;  in  fact,  ac- 
cording to  his  own  account,  he  could  scarcely 
frame,  off-hand,  a  coherent  sentence  when  ap- 
pearing before  his  fellows  during  the  first  years 
of  his  collegiate  course.  There  were  with  him 
at  college,  students  with  glib  tongues  and  ready 
wit,  who,  in  after  years,  were  proud  to  do  rever- 
ence to  the  once  timid  boy,  who  as  theologian 
and  philosopher  astonished  the  learned  world. 
Evidences  were  not  rare,  even  when  he  was  a 
child,  of  extraordinary  talent.  Dr.  Aj^i^el  re- 
lates that  an  old  German  lady  once  saw  him  at 
his  grandjiarents  when  he  was  twelve  years  old, 
heard  his  conversation  and  was  amazed  at  his 


22 


THE    LIFE    OF 


wonderful  knowledge.  That  reminds  me  of  my 
early  ministry,  when  that  same  old  lady  was  one 
of  my  most  honored  and  excellent  j^arishioners, 
over  eighty  years  of  age.  In  the  narrative  re- 
ferred to,  she  is  spoken  of  as  a  German  Avoman 
— which  needs  explanation.  She  was  not  of 
foreign  birth,  could  speak  English  as  fluently 
and  correctly  as  (merman,  and  her  reading,  of 
which  she  did  a  great  deal,  was  mostly  English. 
The  Reformed  "  Messenger"  was  her  constant 
companion,  she  knew  something  of  every  min- 
ister in  the  Reformed  Church,  had  an  almost 
unlimited  memory,  and  when  she  related  the  in- 
cident about  young  John  Nevin  and  his  wisdom, 
her  story  could  be  relied  on  as  perfectly  correct. 
One  event  in  Mr.  Nevin's  life  at  college  must 
be  mentioned  as  having  an  important  bearing 
on  his  future  history.  AYlien  he  was  about  half 
way  through  his  college  course,  a  "  revival  of 
religion,"  so  called,  broke  out  among  the  stu- 
dents. There  seemed  to  be  what  has  often  been 
termed  *'  a  great  awakening."  There  were  strong 
cries  and  tears,  mourning  over  sinful  condition, 
and  earnest  striving  after  a  spiritual  state  that 
would  insure  the  salvation  of  the  soul.  Mr. 
Nevni,  whose  Christian  training  would  naturally 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  23 

cause  him  to  regard  with  solemnity  such  reli- 
gious earnestness  and  seeking  of  salvation,  fell 
in  with  the  movement,  became  a  subject  of  it, 
and  after  many  severe  soul  struggles,  arrived  at 
a  spiritual  state  which  he  ventured  to  hope 
was  the  great  desideratum,  conversion. 

Up  to  this  time  he  had  not  made  a  public 
profession  of  Christian  faith  ;  but  he  now  felt 
prepared  to  do  so,  and  with  others  was  received 
into  full  communion  with  the  Church. 

In  after  years  Dr.  Nevin  spoke  and  wrote  of 
that  college  "  revival"  in  terms  of  severe  and  no 
doubt  just  criticism.  Before  he  entered  college, 
it  was  still  the  good  custom  in  the  Presbyterian 
Church  generally  to  teach  the  baptized  children 
the  fundamental  truths  of  the  Christian  religion, 
that  they  might  be  prepared  to  assume  for  them- 
selves, at  a  proper  age,  the  obligations  and  du- 
ties of  a  i^ersonal  consecration  to  the  service  of 
God  as  full  members  of  the  Church.  It  had 
been  the  recognized  duty  of  the  minister  to 
catechize  the  young  and  all  who  needed  elemen- 
tary instruction,  according  to  the  method  of  in- 
struction as  appointed  by  ecclesiastical  authority. 
The  pastor  of  the  old  Middle  Spring  church,  to 
which  the  Nevins  belonged,  was  a  faithful  pas- 


24  THE    LIFE    OF 

tor  to  the  children,  the  lambs  of  Christ's  fold, 
and  carefully  supplemented  their  home  training 
by  teachinsT  them  more  fully  the  truths  of  the 
Christian  religion  as  set  forth  in  the  Westmin- 
ster catechisms.  The  educational  idea  in  reli- 
gion was  firmly  maintained  and  practised  in 
that  church  and  by  its  pastor,  and  young  Neyin 
received  a  full  share  of  the  spiritual  benefits 
conferred  in  this  way.  But  when  the  "  reviyal" 
turned  in  at  Union  College,  the  promoters  of  it 
taught  and  insisted  upon  an  entirely  different 
theory  of  personal  religion.  No  account  what- 
ever was  made  of  covenant  relation  to  God 
through  holy  baptism.  The  baptized  and  un- 
baptized  were  not  necessarily  different  in  any 
way.  Worse,  still,  for  those  would-be  evange- 
lists, the  most  careful  Christian  training,  re- 
ceived at  the  Christian  home  and  in  the  church, 
all  went  for  nothing  in  the  estimation  of  the 
new  teachers.  What  they  insisted  on  as  the  one 
great  essential  was,  that  the  soul  pass  through  a 
crucible  of  torture  in  a  sort  of  spiritual  inquisi- 
tion, the  inquisitors  meanwhile  increasing  the 
agony  until  the  racked  subject  "  yields,"  from 
sheer  exhaustion,  and  collapses  into  a  state  that 
is  called  conversion.  ]Mr.  Nevin,  with  many 
others,  was  drawn   into   that   whirlpool   of  soul 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  25 

horrors,  and  came  out  })artially  satisfied  that  he 
had  done  at  least  sufficient  penance  to  his  con- 
science and  to  his  God  to  entitle  him  to  a  place 
among  the  converted.  He  united  with  the 
C'hurch,  as  if  he  had  never  belonged  to  it  before, 
that  is,  under  the  impression  that  Christ  had 
never  before  received  him  into  His  fold — in 
other  words,  that  his  baptism  had  been  an  empt}' 
form,  if  not  a  wicked  mockery  of  sacred  things. 
This  was  not  true  Presbyterianism,  nor  Cal- 
vinism. It  was  New  England  Puritanism  run 
mad,  which  had  insinuated  itself  into  a  large 
part  of  American  Christianity  and  gained  as- 
cendancy to  such  a  degree  that  any  other  theory 
of  religion  was  by  many  regarded  with  suspicion 
and  even  pious  horror,  or,  according  to  humor, 
with  the  most  self-complacent  pietistic  commis- 
eration. The  character  of  that  type  of  religion 
was  essentiallv  leo-alistic.  It  was  law  and  2;os- 
pel  mechanically  joined  together  in  such  a  way 
that  the  gospel  seemed  to  be  omitted  altogether — 
the  gospel,  with  gospel  left  out.  In  words  every 
possible  account  was  made  of  God  doing  all  for 
the  sinner,  and  of  the  sinner  being  justified  by 
faith  alone ;  and  yet  when  the  work  of  converting 
sinners  was  in  hand,  the  means  resorted  to  looked 
3 


26  THE    LIFE    OF 

very  much  as  if  righteousness  and  salvation  came 
entirely  by  works.  The  air  was  rife  with  vocifer- 
ations against  Romish  penance,  and  yet  the  vo- 
ciferators  themselves  insisted  on  severer  })enances 
than  Roman  priests  usually  require  -  the  pen- 
ances of  what  the  revivalists  called  "  law  work," 
a  kind  of  religious  flint-mill  in  which  the  soul 
coming  out  alive  would  do  well.  Romanism  is 
tame  as  compared  with  the  legalistic  demands 
made  on  men  by  the  Puritanic  system. 

The  more  modern  style  of  modern  Christianity 
differs  from  the  old  Puritanism  in  this,  that  it  is 
not  in  such  horrible  earnest,  and  not  so  dreadful 
in  its  demands.  Its  adherents  are  not  so  firmly 
set  in  their  religious  ways  as  were  their  spiritual 
progenitors,  and  they  have  found  easier  and 
quicker  methods  of  casting  out  devils  and  in- 
creasing the  number  of  the  converted.  They 
tell  sinners  there  is  very  little  for  them  to  do  ; 
that  they  have  only  to  believe  "  right  now,"  and 
instantly  they  will  be  born  again.  Strolling 
evangelists  are  frequently  employed  by  regular 
pastors  (who  ought  to  do  their  own  work)  to 
awaken  religious  interest  in  their  pastoral 
charges  to  which  they  have  been  regularly  and 
solemnly  appointed,  and  they  do  things  with 
amazing    celerity.      The    old    Puritanic    '*  law 


JOHxNT    W.    NEVm.  27 

work"  is  almost  ignored,  and  the  new  way  of  be- 
coming full  fledged  Christians  is  in  perfect  ac- 
cord with  the  rapidity  of  the  present  age.  Yet 
the  underlying  principle  is  the  same  in  both 
periods.  They  are  but  two  phases  of  one  system. 
In  both  there  is  the  same  disregard  of  the  sacra- 
mental and  educational  idea  of  the  old  apostolic 
and  historical  Church.  Great  care  is  taken  to 
disabuse  minds  of  the  soul  destroying  error  of 
laying  any  stress  whatever  on  baptism,  as  though 
baptism  had  in  it  nothing  heavenly  and  divine. 
But  tliis  subject  will  come  up  again  farther  on. 

Suffice  it  to  say  here,  that  Dr.  Nevin  in  due 
time  saw  fully  the  errors  of  the  unchurchly  re- 
vival system  and  exposed  them  in  all  their  rank- 
ness.  He  did  not  speak  lightly  of  what  he  ex- 
perienced during  the  religious  awakening  at 
Union  College ;  he  treated  the  matter  with 
solemnity,  and  spoke  of  that  j^eriod  in  his  spirit- 
ual life  as  of  great  importance  in  both  a  nega- 
tive and  a  positive  view.  He  was  led  by  it  to 
make  a  full  profession  of  faith  in  Christ,  and  to 
take  a  positive  stand  in  the  CUuirch  as  a  cove- 
nant child  of  God.  But  notwithstanding  such 
important  results,  he  nevertheless  did  not  fail  to 
see  the  radical  errors  which  marked  the  whole 
movement  and  the  system  to  which  it  belonged. 


28  THE    LI?^E    OF 


CHAPTER   IV. 

The  History  of  Twenty-two  Years  Briefly  Told. — 
The  Theological  Student.— The  Author. 
— Teacher  of  Hebrew.— Theologi- 
cal Professor  and  Preacher. 

Mr.  Neviii  graduated  with  honor  at  the  early- 
age  of  eighteen.  The  severe  application  to  study 
during  the  four  years  of  his  college  course  was 
too  much  for  his  undevelojied  and  rather  deli- 
cate physical  organism,  and  he  returned  to  his 
paternal  home  broken  in  health,  a  miserable  dys- 
peptic in  body  and  mind. 

The  religious  crucible  through  which  he  had 
passed,  was  of  a  sickly,  sentimental  and  morose 
order,  all  in  one,  and  had  much  to  do  with  his 
physical  condition,  as  he  himself  afterwards  de- 
clared. His  piety  was  real  and  sincere,  but  so 
tinged  with  the  prevailing  jiietistic  legalism  of 
New  England  that  it  made  him  look  with  sus- 
picion on  everything  in  religion  that  did  not 
square  with  its  exacting  standard;  and  his  reli- 
gious morbidity  seemed  to  penetrate  his  whole 
being,  spirit,  soul  and  body. 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  29 

But  the  change  from  academic  life  to  that  of 
a  quiet  liome  in  the  country  in  due  time  wrought 
a  good  and  wholesome  effect.  He  worked  on 
the  farm,  exercised  on  horseback  and  inhaled 
the  life-supporting  atmosphere  that  flowed  like 
streams  of  living  water  from  the  great  mountains 
near  by.  His  morbid  habit  of  mind  and  spirit 
also  yielded  to  these  gentle  remedial  influences, 
and  he  took  gradually  a  more  cheerful  view  of 
life  and  religion. 

During  this  time  of  relaxation  from  regular 
study — a  period  of  two  years — his  mind  was 
much  exercised  in  regard  to  his  future  calling. 
His  parents  and  friends  had  regarded  it  as  a 
foregone  conclusion  that  he  should  enter  the 
ministry,  and  he  had  himself,  though  somewhat 
vaguely,  this  great  object  in  view.  But  the 
matter  had  now  to  be  decided,  and  after  much 
reflection  and  earnest  prayer  he  determined  to 
enter  upon  a  course  of  theological  study  and  pre- 
pare himself  for  the  gospel  ministry.  So  in  the 
year  1823,  at  the  age  of  twenty,  he  entered  the 
theological  Seminary  at  Princeton,  the  leading 
school  of  divinity  in  the  Presbyterian  Church. 

Mr.  Nevin  found  life  at  this  school  of  the 
prophets  congenial  and  pleasant.     His  progress 


30  THE    LIFE    OF 

ill  his  new  studies  was  entirely  satisfactory,  which 
he  pursued  witli  a  solemn  sense  of  their  impor- 
tance, having  in  view  constantly  the  salvation  of 
men  through  his  future  ministry  of  God's  ^vord. 
For  some  time  he  had  a  great  dislike  for  Hebrew, 
and  was  tempted  to  abandon  it  altogether ;  but 
taking  the  good  advice  of  a  friend,  he  continued 
the  study,  and  soon  afterwards  became  as  much 
interested  in  that  sacred  language  as  he  had  for- 
merly been  disgusted  with  it ;  and  when  he  com- 
pleted his  theological  course  he  was  the  best  He- 
brew scholar  in  the  Seminary. 

And  right  here  one  fact  deserves  special  men- 
tion. Mr.  Nevin  performed  a  feat  that  may 
possibly  have  been  accomplished  by  a  few  others 
elsewdiere,  but  by  none  to  my  knowledge  ;  that 
is,  he  read  critically  during  his  seminary  course 
the  entire  Hebrew  Bible,  and  so  made  himself 
master  of  the  entire  Old  Testament  text  in  the 
original,  at  the  age  of  twenty-three,  and  while 
yet  a  theological  under-graduate.  This  alone 
was  a  sufficient  j^rophecy  of  his  future  glorious 
career  as  a  theologian.  It  showed  the  wonder- 
ful intellectual  powers  of  the  man,  and  indicated 
what  those  powers  would  be  wdien  fully  devel- 
oped. 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  31 

Another  remarkable  fact  in  this  connection 
was,  that  immediately  after  the  close  of  his  semi- 
nary course  he  was  appointed  professor  ad  interim 
of  the  Hebrew  language  and  literature,  in  the 
same  institution  from  which  he  had  just  gradua- 
ted, to  take  the  place  of  Dr.  Charles  Hodge  dur- 
ing a  two  years'  absence  in  Europe.  He  filled 
the  place  with  great  ability  and  to  the  entire 
satisfaction  of  all  concerned. 

Another  remarkable  fact  belongs  to  this  pe- 
riod. It  was  during  those  two  years  that  he 
wrote  the  "  Biblical  Antiquities,"  the  excellent ' 
and  well  known  work  published  by  the  Ameri- 
con  Sunday  School  Union.  I  remember  seeing 
it  among  my  father's  books  when  I  was  a  child, 
and  how  my  parents  prized  the  work  as  one  of 
their  best  household  treasures.  Years  afterwards 
I  heard  Dr.  Schaflf  speak  of  it  as  a  remarkably 
clear,  learned  and  readable  production,  differing 
in  this  respect  entirely  from  the  usually  dry  bun- 
dles of  facts  called  archaeologies.  Another  sure 
sign  of  the  future  "  world  renowned  Nevin." 

When  Dr.  Hodge  returned  from  Europe  and 
resumed  his  place  in  the  Seminary,  Mr.  Nevin 
was  still  quite  a  young  man,  only  twenty-five. 
But  he  had   made  his  mark ;  he  had   stepped 


32  THE    LIFE    OF 

upon  the  ladder  which  reached  to  the  stars,  and 
it  did  not  require  a  great  prophet  to  see  that  his 
proper  phice  was  to  be  at  the  upper  end — wiser 
than  all  his  teachers.  The  young  teacher  of 
Hebrew  in  that  noted  institution  attracted  the 
attention  of  thoughtful  and  earnest  men,  though 
he  did  not  himself  seem  to  be  aware  of  the  im- 
pression he  had  made,  nor  seemed  to  have  the 
least  idea  of  ev^er  rising  to  eminence,  least  of  all 
to  that  immense  height  to  which,  eagle  like,  he 
rose.  Men  like  him  were  in  demand,  and  al- 
ways will  be.  Such  a  light  could  not  be  hid. 
His  work  in  the  Seminary,  being  limited  to  the 
period  of  Dr.  Hodge's  absence  in  Europe,  was 
now  ended,  but  to  be  continued,  however,  in  an- 
other place.  The  greatness  of  the  man  was  al- 
ready seen  and  felt.  A  man  of  twenty-five,  who 
had  spent  eighteen  of  those  years  among  plain 
people  in  the  country,  a  master  and  teacher  of 
Hebrew,  and  author  of  one  of  the  best  of  Bibli- 
cal works — such  a  man  would  be  sought  after. 

What  was  to  be  called  the  Western  Theologi- 
cal Seminary  was  about  to  be  established  in  Al- 
legheny, and  the  chief  promoters  of  the  enter- 
prise looked  to  Princeton  for  a  professor  of  Bib- 
lical Literature,  and  the  choice  fell  upon  Mr. 


JOHX    W.    NEVIN.  83 

Nevin  as  the  only  one  to  be  thought  of  for  the 
place.  He  accepted  the  appointment.  This  was 
in  1828,  but  it  was  not  until  1830  that  he  en- 
tered upon  the  duties  of  his  new  position.  The 
managers  of  the  institution  could  not  get  ready 
any  sooner  for  putting  it  into  operation.  Mean- 
while Mr.  Nevin  was  licensed  to  preach  by  the 
Carlisle  Presbytery,  and  during  this  interval  he 
frequently  preached,  as  opportunity  offered,  in 
churches,  school  houses  and  j^i'ivate  dwellings. 
He  also  had  now  another  good  chance  to  gain 
physical  health  and  vigor,  and  he  made  good 
use  of  this  interval  for  such  purpose. 

Prof.  Nevin  continued  in  the  Western  Theo- 
logical Seminary  for  ten  years.  The  position 
was  one  of  far  greater  responsibility  and  harder 
work  then  than  the  same  is  now,  in  that  and 
other  similar  institutions.  It  was  not  manned 
with  a  sufficient  force  of  professors  for  a  proper 
division  of  labor,  and  Prof  Nevin,  always  ready 
to  do  more  than  his  own  share  of  work,  carried 
extra  burdens  during  that  entire  decade.  He 
also  preached  almost  as  regularly  as  if  he  had 
a  pastoral  charge.  Meanwhile  he  received  or- 
dination, and  so  was  invested  with  the  full 
power  and  authority  of  the  sacred  office.     As 


34  THE    LIFE    OF 

professor  of  theology  and  preacher  of  the  gospel 
he  was  most  earnest  and  diligent,  and  by  pre- 
cept and  example  adorned  the  gospel  of  Christ 
and  magnified  his  high  office.  A  volume  could 
be  written  of  his  work  while  in  Allegheny,  but 
the  object  and  plan  of  this  sketch  will  permit  of 
only  a  brief  outline. 

During  this  period  Prof.  Nevin  made  himself 
master  of  the  German  language.  This  opened 
to  him  a  new  world  of  thought,  and  prepared 
him  for  the  great  transformation  in  his  whole 
inward  being  after  he  had  entered  the  very  home 
of  German  philosophy  and  theology,  in  its 
American  representative,  the  German  Reformed 
Church. 

On  January  1st,  1835,  Prof.  Nevin  was  uni- 
ted in  marriage  to  Miss  Martha  Jenkins,  a 
daughter  of  the  Hon.  Robert  Jenkins,  of  AVind- 
sor  Place,  near  Churchtown,  in  Lancaster  co.. 
Pa.  Mrs.  Nevin,  who  died  recently  in  the  85th 
year  of  her  age,  was  a  woman  of  the  highest 
character  and  culture,  a  true  and  congenial  com- 
panion to  her  husband ;  and  scarcely  can  too 
much  be  said  in  her  praise.  They  were  blessed 
with  a  family  of  eight  children,  five  sons  and 
three  daughters,  of  whom  five — two  sons  and  the 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  35 

three  daughters — are  living.     All  these  are   in 
every  way  an  honor  to  their  parents. 

In  1839  Jefferson  College  conferred  on  Prof 
Nevin  the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divin- 
ity. He  was  a  real  doctor  long  before  that,  and 
the  conferring  of  the  title  was  simply  a  formal 
and  official  declaration  of  what  he  was  already. 
It  is  in  very  many  instances  quite  different  of 
late  years.  Every  second  rate  academy,  char- 
tered as  a  college,  can  and  does  confer  the  titles 
of  Ph.  D.,  D.  D.  and  LL.  D.,  and  frequently 
upon  2)ersons  whose  unfitness  to  receive  them  is 
their  most  distincruishino-  mark.  As  to  the 
modern  conferring  of  D.  D.,  it  would  be  amusing 
were  it  not  for  the  fact  that  the  worthy  doctors 
are  scandalized  and  belittled  by  the  small  fry  who 
falsely,  and  yet  legally,  flourish  tliat  greatest  and 
noblest  of  all  titles.  It  has  become  so  common, 
that  a  respectable  theologian  must  be  almost 
ashamed  to  die  either  with  or  without  the  honor- 
ary suffix.  In  1839,  however,  and  thereabouts, 
the  degree  was  rarely  conferred  upon  men  who 
were  unworthy  of  it ;  and  as  for  Dr.  Nevin,  he 
was  a  doctor  every  whit  and  all  through,  with 
or  without  the  title.  In  1873  his  alma  mater, 
Union  College,  did  itself  the  honor  of  conferring 
on  him  the  degree  of  LL.  D. 


36  THE    LIFE    OF 

The  closing  part  of  this  important  decade  in 
the  career  of  Dr.  Nevin  forms  one  of  the  most 
interesting  chapters  of  that  period.  He  was  still 
a  young  man,  but  his  fame  had  spread  abroad  ; 
he  stood  high  in  his  own  denomination,  and  was 
favorably  known  beyond  its  borders  as  a  man  of 
extraordinary  intellect  and  ability  as  a  scholar, 
and  above  all  as  a  Christian  of  apostolic  piety 
and  zeal.  The  German  Reformed  Church,  the 
American  representative  of  the  original  Reformed 
Church  of  Europe,  and  related  to  the  Presbyter- 
ian Church  as  mother  to  daughter,  and  sharing 
with  it  a  common  origin,  was  not  ignorant  of  the 
man  and  his  work.  Esj^ecially  some  of  her 
leading  men  Avere  well  informed  in  regard  to 
him.  It  so  happened  that  a  professor  of  theology 
was  to  be  chosen  by  the  Eastern  Reformed  Synod 
for  the  Seminary  at  Mercersburg.  Several  were 
elected,  but  they  declined  the  ajipointment. 
Then  the  attention  of  Synod  was  directed  to  the 
Allegheny  Professor.  After  prayerful  delibera- 
tion he  was  unanimously  chosen. 

If  the  first  Synod  of  the  apostles  and  elders  at 
Jerusalem  was  guided  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  as  all 
Christians  believe,  then  just  as  certainly  was 
that  Reformed  Synod  so  guided  to  its  unanimous 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  o7 

conclusion  and  act.  It  was  a  synodical  act  on 
which  turned  some  of  the  most  important  relig- 
ious events  of  the  19tii  century. 

Dr.  Nevin  was  informed  of  his  election  by  a 
committee  in  person ;  and  not  long  after  the 
members  of  the  committee  had  returned  to  their 
homes,  he  returned  a  favorable  answer,  accepting 
the  call.  The  letter  was  addressed  to  Rev.  Dr. 
B.  S.  Schneck,  of  Chambersburg,  as  President  of 
Synod. 

Those  who  desire  to  read  a  full  account  of  the 
various  steps  leading  to  this  result ;  of  the  evi- 
dent directions  of  Providence  in  the  case ;  the 
conspiring  together  of  events  leading  to  the  de- 
sired object ;  and  the  harmony  of  thought  and 
feeling  on  both  sides  of  the  transaction,  should 
secure  a  copy  of  Dr.  Appel's  Life  of  Dr.  Nevin, 
where  they  can  read  the  whole  story — a  story 
whose  plot  is  all  solid  fact,  and  as  entertaing  as 
a  romance.  Here  are  a  few  sentences  of  Dr. 
Nevin's  letter  of  acceptance.  Get  the  other  book, 
and  read  the  whole  of  an  ej)istle  that  is  apostolic 
in  spirit  and  in  wisdom,  and  presents  in  minia- 
ture a  picture  without  a  flaw  of  the  man  who 
wrote  it.     He  says  : 

"  Thus  do  I  find  mvseif  constrained  to  2;o  into 


38  THE    JLIFE    OF 

the  German  Reformed  Church.  Let  it  not  be 
thought,  however,  that  I  go  rekictantly  or  coklly 
into  her  communion,  now  that  the  duty  is  settled. 
I  go,  indeed,  with  fear  and  trembling ;  but  I  carry 
along  with  me  my  entire  will.  I  give  myself 
wholly  to  the  German  Reformed  Church,  and  find 
no  difficulty  in  making  her  interests  my  own. 
No  Church  can  boast  of  a  better  creed  or  a  bet- 
ter ecclesiastical  frame-work.  Her  fathers  rank 
high  in  the  history  of  the  Reformation.  The 
spirit  of  a  time-hallowed  faith,  such  as  could 
once  make  martyrs,  older  than  the  Presbyteri- 
anism  of  Scotland,  is  still  enshrined  in  her  arti- 
cles and  forms,  and  the  German  Church  in  this 
country  has  become  a  rising  interest.  No  sec- 
tion of  our  American  Zion  is  more  important. 
None  embraces  vaster  resources  of  power  in  pro- 
portion to  its  limits.  None  exhibits  a  richer 
intellectual  ore,  available  in  the  same  way  for 
the  pur230se  of  religion.  I  find  no  lack  of  con- 
siderations here  to  enlist  my  sympathies  or  to 
stimulate  my  zeal,  I  can  go  heartily  into  such 
a  Church,  and  in  this  spirit  I  now  accept  of  the 
call  of  your  Synod  to  the  professorship  at  Mer- 
cersburg." 

It  was  enough.     The   peo[)le   to   whom  JDr. 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  39 

Neviii  was  coming  as  a  teacher  of  holy  and  sa- 
cred things,  as  a  spiritual  guide  and  helmsman, 
had  before  their  eyes  the  portrait  of  his  soul, 
and  could  see  that  here  was  a  man  sent  to  them 
by  the  Lord  Himself.  He  was  not  dissatisfied 
with  his  own  tribe  of  Israel  to  wliich  he  belonged 
from  his  birth,  nor  in  a  spirit  of  unfilial  prodi- 
gality was  he  now  going  out  into  foreign  parts 
to  seek  a  better  fortune ;  but  as  a  true  servant 
of  Christ  he  obeyed  the  plain  indications  of  His 
will  and  yielded  to  His  sovereign  pleasure. 


40  THE    LIFE    OF 


CHAPTER  V. 
Transition. 

The  near  prospect  of  Dr.  Nevin's  advent  was 
a  bright  anticipation  for  the  live  members  of  the 
Reformed  Church,  and  was  the  subject  of  daily 
conversation.  I  was  at  that  time  a  mere  child, 
in  my  eighth  year,  but  the  conversations  of  my 
father  and  mother,  and  the  older  members  of 
the  family,  on  the  now  leading  subject  I  shall 
never  forget.  I  can  understand  now,  as  I  could 
not  then,  the  enthusiastic  manner,  the  fervid 
tones,  and  the  delighted  countenances  at  table 
and  fireside,  where  all  was  animation  in  the  dis- 
cussion of  Dr.  Nevin's  coming  to  Mercersburg 
and  its  bearing  on  the  future  of  the  Reformed 
Church. 

I  remember  well  how  a  Presbyterian  elder 
and  friend  of  my  father  tartly  spoke  of  Dr. 
Nevin  as  a  "  turn  coat,"  and  reproached  him 
rather  severely  for  making  the  transition  ;  to 
which  my  father  replied  that  Dr.  Nevin  did  it 
conscientiously  witli  the  view  to  accomj^lish   the 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  41 

greatest  possible  good ;  that  he  was  influenced 
by  the  highest  and  holiest  motives,  and  acted  in 
accordance  with  what  he  believed  were  plain  in- 
dications of  Providence.  My  father's  intimate 
acquaintance  with  Drs.  B.  S.  Schneck  and  S.  R. 
Fisher  was  of  great  use  to  him  in  the  way  of 
learning  the  inside  history  in  the  movement 
which  resulted  in  securing  Dr.  Nevin  for  the 
Reformed  Church,  and  from  them  he  learned 
much  of  his  previous  history. 

At  Mercersburg  Dr.  Nevin  became  associated 
with  Dr.  F.  A.  Ranch,  President  of  Marshall 
College.  Dr.  Ranch,  though  only  about  thirty- 
four  years  of  age,  was  one  of  the  most  learned 
men  of  his  time.  He  was  a  German,  and  famil- 
iar with  the  whole  j^hilosophy  and  learning  of 
Germany  ;  and  at  the  same  time  was  a  thorough 
English  scholar — in  fact,  a  sort  of  universal 
genius.  The  two  men  were  outwardly  totally 
different.  The  man  of  German  blood  was  im- 
pulsive and  of  the  most  fiery  enthusiasm,  and 
showed  it  in  speech  and  action ;  the  other,  with 
equally  high  aims,  was  usually  calm,  of  wonder- 
ful natural  dignity,  deliberate  in  all  he  said  and 
did,  and  as  unswerving  in  right  doing  as  the 
stars  in  their  courses.  But  aside  from  difterence 
4 


42  THE    LIFE   OF 

of  temperament  and  external  personality,  they 
were  in  their  inmost  natures  much  alike,  and 
very  much  of  one  mind.  They  [were,  in  fact, 
two  very  congenial  spirits,  their  differences 
mutually  compensating  for  what  was  lacking  in 
each.  Dr.  Ranch  regarded  his  new  fellow  work- 
man in  the  great  field  of  thought  with  feelings 
of  profound  reverence,  and  the  regard  was  mu- 
tual. 

Dr.  Nevin  had  already  mastered  the  German 
language  ;  and  now  that  he  was  in  a  Church 
whose  pedigree,  life  and  spirit  were  largely  Ger- 
man, he  found  special  use  for  his  late  acquisi- 
tion. His  association  with  Dr.  Ranch,  a  Ger- 
man to  the  manor  born,  gave  a  new  impulse  to 
the  cultivation  of  the  vast  field  of  literature  and 
learning  which  lay  open  before  him.  The  com- 
panionship of  the  learned  German  was  equal  to 
a  university  library,  and  better  ;  for  the  living 
and  speaking  organ  in  the  person  of  a  true 
representative  of  the  best  German  thought  and 
culture  was  of  far  greater  account  than  the  most 
massive  learning  bound  up  in  books.  Dr.  Nevin 
had  both ;  he  had  the  living  exponent  of  Ger- 
man learning  as  a  companion,  and  from  him  he 
discovered  the  ways  and  avenues  leading  to  the 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN. 


43 


richest  mines  of  German  philosophy  and  the- 
ology. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  towering  intellect  of 
Dr.  Nevin  and  his  ripe  scholarship  fired  the 
enthnsiasm  of  his  learned  colleague,  and  aided 
him  much  in  every  way.  The  two  men  were 
each  greater  and  more  useful  as  public  teachers 
than  they  would  have  been  alone.  United  like 
David  and  Jonathan,  in  hearty  symjDathy  with 
each  other,  they  filled  their  great  offices,  as  it 
were,  with  a  double  force  in  each.  Thus  Dr. 
Nevin,  right  from  the  beginning  of  his  labors  in 
Mercersburg,  felt  at  home,  as  he  could  not  other- 
wise, associated  as  he  was  with  Dr.  Ranch. 

But  this  delightful  affiliation  of  kindred  spir- 
its continued  only  a  year,  at  the  end  of  which 
Dr.  Ranch  passed  from  his  work  and  place  on 
earth  to  the  higher  employments  of  the  saints  in 
heaven.  But  it  was  a  year  of  the  greatest  im- 
portance to  Dr.  Nevin.  With  ordinary  mortals 
a  single  year  may  add  but  little  to  their  mental 
stock,  but  not  so  in  this  case.  That  year  began 
and  ended  with  the  unthinking  multitude  like  a 
story  or  a  song,  without  any  permanent  impress 
upon  it  of  sublime  thought  or  deed ;  but  to  those 
two  kindred  spirits  it   was   a  year  of  immense 


44  THE    LIFE    OF 

consequence  ;  a  year  of  intellectual  and  spiritual 
enlargement,  that  would  be  of  vast  account  in 
the  whole  future  career  of  the  survivor  ;  a  year 
of  bountiful  sowing  that  must  ])roduce  a  glorious 
harvest  in  the  world  of  mind.  After  Dr.  Ranch's 
death,  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  Marshall  College 
elected  Dr.  Nevin  President  of  the  institution. 
A  double  burden  now  rested  upon  him,  in  Col- 
lege and  Seminary,  which  he  carried  for  twelve 
years  without  interruption — a  period  of  extra- 
ordinary interest,  not  only  for  the  Reformed 
Church,  but  for  the  C'hurch  and  world  at  large. 
Dr.  Nevin,  in  the  meantime,  came  to  be  re- 
garded everywhere  by  peo})le  of  good  mental 
caliber  as  an  intellectual  prodigy,  and  the  com- 
pound adjective,  "world  renowned,"  as  applied 
to  him,  and  which  struck  my  mental  ear  so 
forcibly  when  I  was  a  small  boy,  was  no  exag- 
geration. 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  45 


CHAPTER   VI. 
Reformed  and  Presbyterian. 

What's  in  a  name  ?  A  rose  would  be  as  fra- 
grant and  lovely,  if  called  by  any  other  name — 
so  it  is  said.  Only  this,  however,  if  the  rose 
had  not  been  just  what  it  is,  it  would  not  have 
received  such  a  sweet  name.  If  by  general  con- 
sent it  should  henceforth  be  called  catnip,  tansy 
or  garlic,  then  the  rose  would  simply  be  slan- 
dered and  misrepresented,  though  its  own  char- 
acter would  remain  unchanged. 

Yes,  there  is  something  in  a  name.  The 
Church  is  called  Catholic,  because  it  is  not  secta- 
rian, clannish,  partisan,  or  national ;  but  is  uni- 
versal in  its  nature,  and  indivisible,  the  one 
Apostolic,  holy  Catholic  Church,  the  mystical 
body  of  Christ.  This  holy  Catholic  Church  is 
an  object  of  Christian  faith,  as  expressed  in  the 
Apostles'  Creed,  being  the  bearer  of  Christ's  life 
and  saving  virtues  to  individuals ;  in  her  official 
character  mediating  the  grace  of  Christ  to  men, 
the  Lord's  bride,  and  the  mother  of  all  true  be- 
lievers. 


46  THE    LIFE    OF 

But  contrary  to  the  divine  idea  of  true  inward 
and  outward  Christian  unity,  the  Church  of 
Christ,  through  the  perversity  of  men,  has  been 
marred  by  schism  and  torn  by  division.  The 
Reformation  of  the  sixteenth  century  was  not  a 
schismatic  movement ;  the  design  of  the  reform- 
ers was  to  remove  errors  in  doctrine  and  prac- 
tice from  the  existing  Church,  and  not  destroy 
or  separate  from  the  Church  itself 

The  Reformation  did  not  imply  a  new  Church, 
but  a  renewal  of  the  Apostolic  form  and  creed 
of  the  Church  ;  a  casting  aside  and  rejection  of 
merely  human  doctrines  and  practices  by  which 
the  Church  had  been  borne  down  for  ages ;  a 
going  back  to  primitive  simplicity  and  purity, 
and  at  the  same  time  a  forward  movement  in  the 
right  direction.  The  Reformation  was  radical 
only  in  the  sense  of  rooting  out  destructive  evils  ; 
it  was  conservative,  in  that  it  retained  whatever 
in  ecclesiastical  order,  ritual  and  creed  was 
found  to  be  in  agreement  with  Holy  Scripture. 
It  made  the  Bible  the  ultimate  rule  of  faith  and 
practice,  and  rejected  the  Romish  doctrine  that 
Christian  tradition  (much  of  it  w?i-christian)  was 
of  equal  authority  with  the  canonical  Scriptures. 
It  rested  upon  the  immovable  foundation  that 


.lOHN    W.    NEVIN.  47 

the  Word  of  God  was  the  only  absolute  rule  of 
Christian  doctrine,  and  that  men  are  justified  by 
faith  as  the  root  of  all  Christian  graces  and  good 
works.  The  Church  as  thus  established  is  the 
Church  not  merely  as  starting  in  the  sixteenth 
century,  but  as  existing  from  its  birth  on  the 
day  of  Pentecost.  What  more  appropriate  name 
then  could  be  given  to  it  than  the  name  Re- 
formed f  The  Catholic  Church  re-formed,  formed 
anew.  Not  the  Church  of  Peter  or  Paul,  or 
Apollos,  but  the  Church  of  the  Apostles,  whose 
head  is  Christ.  Not  the  Church  of  Zwingli,  or 
Calvin,  or  any  other  of  the  leaders  in  the  Reforma- 
tion, but  the  Church  of  Christ,  victorious  over 
the  corrupting  influences  of  the  world  which 
had  for  ages  sought  her  life  and  brought  her  to 
the  verge  of  destruction.  The  same  Church 
now,  but  re-formed — and  that  is  her  name,  by 
which  is  meant  the  Holy  Catholic  Church  of 
Christ,  after  fifteen  centuries  of  conflict  with  ex- 
ternal enemies,  triumphant  over  them  all. 

The  name  is  of  immense  importance,  because 
there  is  in  it  not  the  least  susj^icion  of  sectarian- 
ism or  schism.  The  real  and  substantial  name 
is  Catholic,  and  "Reformed"  denotes  that  it  is 
not  the  Catholic  Cluirch  that  claims  exclusively 


48  THE    LIFE   OF 

the  title  and  stands  convicted  fof  apostacy  from 
the  simplicity  of  the  gospel,  and  that  it  is  the 
old  Church  of  which  we  read  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment.  Now  the  Church  which  bears  the  name 
Reformed,  while  it  by  no  means  assumes  to  be 
the  only  ecclesiastical  body  that  could  justly 
claim  the  title,  has  at  least  the  advantage  of 
original  possession,  and  of  the  name  itself  The 
original  Reformed  Church  is  represented  in  this 
country  under  that  title.  Its  form  of  govern- 
ment is  presbyterial,  but  it  is  not  therefore  called 
the  Presbyterian  Church.  It  has  equally  the 
elements  and  powers  of  episcopacy,  but  its  proper 
name  is  not  Episcopal.     It  has  all  that  is  good 

^and  true  in  Congregationalism,  but  its  name  is 
not  Congregational.  The  name  of  Zwingli  will 
always  be  honored  and  cherished   by  the  Re- 

ijbrmed  Church,  but  not  as  its  name.  It  is  of 
much  account  that  the  Reformed  Church  is  not 
named  after  a  man  or  some  form  of  church  gov- 
ernment, and  that  its  name  means  everything 
that  belongs  to  the  Church  of  Christ,  no  more 
and  no  less. 

Dr.  Nevin  felt  the  power  of  the  Reformed 
name  when  he  was  once  rightly  settled  in  his 
new   home.     He   realized   a    greater   degree   of 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  41) 

spiritual  freedom  than  he  could  in  the  Presby- 
terian Church.  He  found  in  the  Reformed 
Church  a  freedom  from  sectarian  narrowness 
such  as  he  had  seen  nowhere  else ;  and  he 
rightly  attributed  this  to  the  fact  that  it  was  in 
its  reigning  sjiirit  true  to  its  significant  name ; 
not  maintaining  its  existence  by  the  magic  of  a 
word,  a  doctrine,  a  shibboleth,  the  name  of  a 
leader,  or  something  equally  unessential  and 
narrow.  The  Presbyterian  Church  was  cramped 
by  a  confession  of  faith,  a  leading  part  of  which 
was  in  conflict  with  the  belief  of  a  majority  of 
Christians.  It  fairly  bristled  with  the  doctrine 
of  God's  absolute  decrees  and  of  Christ's  re- 
demption eternally  planned  for  the  elect  only. 
In  the  Reformed  Church  Dr.  Nevin  found  a 
different  and  more  refreshing  order  of  thought 
and  Christian  doctrine  as  embodied  in  the  Hei- 
delberg Catechism,  and  in  the  Reformed  theo- 
logical literature  of  Germany.  He  found  the 
Heidelberg  Catechism  to  be  filled  with  the  life 
and  powder  of  Christianity,  and  entirely  free  from 
any  declaration  whatever  not  consonant  with  the 
articles  of  "our  undoubted  Christian  faith."  No 
vexed  questions  concerning  divine  election  and 
reprobation,  and  nothing  to   disturb  the  tender 


50  THE    LIFE    OF 

conscience  of  a  true  believer.  The  Westminster 
standards  were  indeed  grand  and  noble  con- 
fessional symbols,  but  they  were  not  of  a  truly 
oecumenical  character,  and  suited  only  to  such 
as  could  endorse  their  central  and  leadino-  dojjma 
of  divine  decrees  as  elaborated  and  taught  by 
Calvin.  When  Dr.  Nevin  came  into  the  Re- 
formed Church,  it  was  suspected  by  some  that 
he  would  ''  Presbyterianize"  it,  and  eventually 
bring  about  an  organic  union  of  the  two  bodies. 
But  it  was  not  long  till  it  was  manifest  to  all 
who  took  an  interest  in  the  subject,  that  he  not 
only  felt  comfortable  in  his  new  ecclesiastical 
relations,  but  that  he  found  in  his  new  home  a 
church  life  that  was  more  congenial  to  his  spirit 
than  what  he  had  ever  before  experienced.  He 
identified  himself  fully  with  the  mother  Church 
of  the  Reformation,  and  found  in  her  bosom 
what  he  had  longed  for  in  a  much  larger  denomi- 
nation, but  yet  much  more  contracted  sphere  of 
thought.  He  felt  more  at  liberty  now  to  sound 
the  depths  of  theological  ideas,  being  no  longer 
fettered  by  stiff  confessional  declarations.  The 
Heidelberg  Catechism,  clear  and  positive,  yet  at 
the  same  time  was  an  open  door  for  a  profound 
and  original  investigator  to  bound  forth  into  the 
free  air  and  sun-light  of  divine  truth. 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  51 

Thus,  instead  of  leading  his  adopted  Church 
into  other  pastures,  he  did  more  than  any  other 
man  to  lift  up  her  own  standards  and  bring 
back  her  people — such  as  had  wondered  off  and 
fallen  into  new  and  strange  ways — to  her  an- 
cient creed  and  time  honored  customs,  believing 
that  these  were  in  harmony  with  the  Word  of 
God.  The  more  he  studied  the  history  and 
character  of  the  Reformed  Church,  the  more  he 
saw  her  glorious  Catholicity  and  the  mighty 
power  lodged  in  her,  that  needed  only  to  be 
stirred  into  activity  in  order  to  effect  mighty 
things  for  God  and  humanity. 

Dr.  Nevin  was  not  slow  to  discover  departures 
from  the  Reformed  faith.  AVhile  in  some  quar- 
ters he  saw  dead  formality,  in  others  there  were 
signs  of  falling  in  with  the  shallow  revival 
spirit,  much  in  vogue  at  the  time.  What  is 
called  the  "anxious  bench"  system,  was  intro- 
duced here  and  there  in  Reformed  churches, 
while  a  large  part  of  the  Lutheran  Church  was 
completely  carried  away  with  it.  As  a  general 
thing,  where  this  foreign  element  was  allowed  to 
enter  the  Reformed  Church,  it  was  through  the 
plausible  persuasions  of  floating,  glib-tongued 
evangelists,  whose  affectations  of  superior  piety 


52  THE    LIFE    OF 

were  well  calculated  to  deceive  honest  and  guile- 
less people,  trained  under  a  far  better  system, 
but  not  all  of  them  j)roof  against  pious  fraud. 
The  so-called  revival  or  anxious  bench  system 
was  exceedingly  aggressive,  too,  as  well  as  insin- 
uating and  crafty.  On  occasions  it  could  be 
modest  as  a  maiden  and  gentle  as  a  lamb  ;  or,  if 
opposed  or  crossed  in  its  designs  at  any  time,  it 
could  rail  and  storm  with  fury,  and  consign  all 
opposition  to  the  lower  regions.  I  have  been 
an  eye  and  ear  witness  to  it  all. 

This  foreign  unchurchly  spirit,  and  the  very 
opposite  of  its  saintly  pretentions,  sought  the 
headquarters  of  the  Reformed  Church  at  Mer- 
cersburg.  The  congregation  at  that  place  was 
visited  by  one  of  the  most  aggressive  apostles  of 
the  New  Measure  system  ;  and  for  a  time  he 
had  his  own  way,  the  people  yielding  like  inno- 
cent and  helpless  children  to  his  methods. 
Meanwhile  Dr.  Nevin  kept  an  eye  on  it,  gauged 
it,  weighed  it  in  the  balances  of  God's  Word, 
and  pronounced  the  judgment  of  "Tekel" 
against  the  whole  movement.  He  was  victori- 
ous, and  the  deluded  people  were  brought  back 
and  started  on  the  true  gospel  course,  in  which 
they  have  continued  ever  since. 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  53 


CHAPTER  VII. 
True  and  False  Evangelism. 

When  Dr.  Nevin  struck  the  blow  that  crushed 
the  demon  of  fanaticism  and  false  Christianity 
at  the  literary  and  theological  capital  of  the  Re- 
formed Church,  he  made  a  new  epoch  in  his 
own  theological  life.  He  now  studied  the  na- 
ture of  Christianity,  theoretical  and  practical,  as 
never  before,  in  the  light  of  the  Heideli)erg 
Catechism  and  of  the  historical  Church.  He 
saw  that  most  of  the  religious  denominations  in 
this  country  were  not  in  full  accord  with  church 
history,  and  had  but  little  of  the  true  historical 
spirit ;  and  that  if  the  Reformed  Church  would 
live  and  grow  according  to  her  own  order  and 
constitution,  she  must  throw  off  the  foreign  ele- 
ments introduced  into  her  sacred  enclosure,  and 
cease  to  burn  strange  lire  upon  her  altars. 

It  was  just  at  this  time  when  the  Church  was 
beset  by  a  false  religious  spirit  from  abroad  to 
rob  her  of  her  own  genius  and  apostolic  inherit- 
ance, that  Dr.  Nevin  prepared  a  "  Tract  for  the 


54  THE    LIFE    OF 

Times,"  aiul  sent  it  on  its  mission  of  instruction 
and  warning.  The  title  of  the  work  was,  "The 
Anxious  Bench,"  under  which  he  inckided  the 
whole  scheme  of  religion  as  conceived  and  un- 
derstood by  a  large  part  of  the  Christian  public. 
In  this  little  work  he  well  nigh  exhausted  the 
whole  subject,  and  by  unanswerable  argument 
showed  that  the  theory  of  Christianity  and  })rac- 
tical  religion,  as  represented  by  the  "Anxious 
Bench,"  was  shallow,  sentimental,  and  in  its 
reigning  thouglit  unscriptural. 

The  Anxious  Bench  or  New  Measure  system 
of  religion  and  evangelism,  may,  in  general 
terms,  be  called  the  emotional,  over  against  the 
educational  system..  The  main  object  of  preach- 
ing, under  this  system,  and  all  evangelistic  work 
(esjjecially  during  a  "revival")  is  to  operate 
upon  the  emotional  nature,  the  feelings  of  men 
and  women,  and  to  stir  their  souls  to  such  depths 
that  they  will  be  forced  to  cry  out  for  relief, 
which  they  are  told  they  can  have  if  they  strug- 
gle on  and  don't  give  up  until  God  shall  say, 
"It  is  enough,"  when  there  will  be  a  sudden 
change  from  an  unconverted  to  a  converted 
state.  To  accomplish  this  result,  the  preacher, 
now  in  terrible  and  awful,   now  in   mellow  and 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  55 

persuasive  tones,  appeals  to  sinners  to  "flee  the 
wrath  to  come."  He  pictures  heaven  with  its 
glories  and  hell  with  its  horrors,  and  represents 
religion  as  the  means  mainly  of  gaining  the  one 
and  escaping  the  other.  Accordingly,  changes 
are  rung  on  Scripture  passages  which  seem  to 
favor  such  ideas,  and  used  with  powerful  tem- 
porary effect.  Sinners  are  wildly  exhorted  to 
cry  out,  like  the  Philip]nan  jailer,  "  What  must 
I  do  to  be  saved  ?"  The  day  of  Pentecost  is 
spoken  of  in  a  similar  strain  as  a  day  of  tre- 
mendous revival,  when  three  thousand  dreadful 
sinners,  filled  with  fear  of  the  coming  judgment, 
frantically  cried  out,  "  What  shall  we  do  to  be 
saved  ?" — even  mutilating  holy  Scripture  in  their 
blind  subjection  to  the  emotional  and  legalistic 
idea  of  religion.  They  add  "  to  be  saved"  to  the 
question  of  those  devout  Jews,  as  if  it  must  be 
so  meant ;  as  if  salvation  could  only  mean  re- 
mission of  punishment  in  the  next  world,  and 
as  if  "  religion"  would  not  be  an  important  mat- 
ter, were  it  not  for  the  infinite  danger  of  neglect- 
ing it.  Then  the  joys  of  conversion  are  the  joys 
of  escape  from  hell.  There  may  even  seem  to 
be  rejoicing  in  the  Lord  after  "conversion,"  and 
a  real  enjoyment  of  the  spiritual  blessings  of  the 


56  THE    LIFE    OF 

gospel,  but  (except  in  cases  where  the  turning  to 
God  is  real  and  true,  in  spite  of  the  miserable 
system)  it  is  not  hard  to  see  that  it  is  a  mere 
ebullition  of  hapj^y  feeling  and  a  reaction  after 
a  hard  mental  and  physical  struggle.  It  is  the 
religion  of  emotion  and  slavish  fear,  not  of  gen- 
uine repentance  and  the  godly  sorrow  from  which 
it  proceeds,  and  which  seldom  or  never  comes 
by  observation  or  with  any  outward  exhibition 
of  inward  struggles.  It  is  not  the  religion  of 
genuine  faith  in  Christ ;  though  the  Anxious 
Bench  exhortation  that  is  the  oftenest  repeated 
is  (amid  enough  confusion  to  prevent  either 
thinking  or  believing)  :  "  Believe — only  believe 
now,  right  now,  believe,  believe,  and  you  are 
saved."  All  this  without  the  preacher  or  ex- 
horter  knowing  whether  the  "  mourner"  knows 
the  ground  principles  of  the  Christian  religion 
or  not. 

All  this  might  be  expected  of  those  sects 
which  came  into  existence  through  the  conceit  of 
ignorance,  and  must  necessarily  make  up  in 
"  bodily  exercise"  for  what  they  lack  in  knowl- 
edge. But  the  New  Measure  system  is  not 
confined  to  thejn.  The  same  system  in  different 
form  is  upheld  by  denominations   that   boast   of 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  57 

their  history  and  learning.  There  is  no  wild 
display  of  feeling  at  their  revival  meetings.  It 
is  the  fashion  to  observe  strict  order  and  solemn 
quiet.  The  inquiry  room  is  put  instead  of  the 
noisy  Anxious  Bench.  The  anxious  are  not  re- 
quired to  spend  hours  on  their  knees  struggling 
to  "get  through."  The  "  special  effort,"  as  the 
revival  now  is  often  called,  may  continue  for 
weeks  without  any  display  of  feeling.  The  most 
noted  evangelist  of  the  present  generation  checks 
at  his  meetings  the  least  demonstration  of  this 
kind.  He  "  means  business,"  and  has  no  time 
to  lose  through  the  indulgence  of  religious  gym- 
nastics. But  it  all  belongs  to  the  Anxious  Bench 
system.  It  changes  its  manner  and  style  to  suit 
the  whims  of  the  period  or  place,  but  is  still  the 
same  in  princii)le  under  every  form  it  has  ever 
assumed.  In  times  past  the  revival  in  respect- 
able communities  was  not  only  free  from  "  noise 
and  confusion,"  but  was  also  marked  by  due 
solemnity  in  speech  and  conduct  on  the  part 
of  preachers  and  religious  people.  It  is  no 
doubt  the  same  still  in  many  places  ;  and  yet  of 
late  years  it  is  not  considered  essential  at  all  to 
be  specially  serious  on  such  momentous  occa- 
sions.    The  evangelist  may  be  a  habitually  sol- 


58  THE    LIFE    OF 

emii  person,  or  he  may  be  a  clown,  a  dealer  in 
low  wit,  a  provoker  of  side-splitting  laughter ; 
he  may  make  his  audience  weep  or  laugh,  be  si- 
lent as  death  or  applaud  to  the  echo  -  it  is  all 
right,  only  so  that  the  great  point  is  not  missed, 
the  conversion  of  sinners.  Even  if  the  crowd 
go  to  the  meetings  from  mere  curiosity,  to  see 
and  hear  some  noted  evangelist,  whose  fame  is 
throughout  the  Christian  world,  they  think  it 
will  be  well ;  for  some  of  them  at  least  may  be 
I  converted  ;  that  is,  they  "  will  not  hear  Moses 
'  and  the  prophets,"  but  they  will  be  persuaded, 
if  one  come  to  them  from  abroad,  and  has  a 
great  reputation.  "  Religion  is  at  a  low  ebb," 
they  say ;  and  the  ordained  ambassadors  of 
Christ,  with  long  faces,  in  solemn  conference, 
decide  that  a  united  onslaught  shall  be  made  on 
the  works  of  the  enemy.  Doctors  of  divinity 
and  pastors  of  lower  degree,  but  all  having  the 
apostolic  commission  and  seal,  lo,  and  behold  ! 
unite  in  a  Macedonian  cry  for  help  to  an  un- 
ordained  and  irresponsible  evangelist ;  and  not 
for  help  simply,  but  to  do  the  work  they 
had  solemnly  engaged,  under  official  divine  au- 
thority, to  do  themselves.  Of  course  thousands 
flock  to  the  church,   or  hall,  night  after  night. 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  59 

On  the  })l<itforin  are  seated  a  score  of  ordained 
ministers,  regular  pastors  of  churches.  What  if 
the  evangelist  won kl  fail  to  arrive!  What  on 
earth  would  those  thousands  of  dear  people  do  ? 
To  be  sure,  there  are  a  score  of  learned  and  pi- 
ous heralds  of  the  cross  on  the  platform,  any 
one  of  whom  could  say  a  good  word  for  •  Christ, 
or  preach  a  gospel  sermon  good  enough  for  any 
one  of  that  multitude,  and  sufficient,  with  the 
divine  blessing,  to  turn  any  sinner  in  the  audi- 
ence into  the  way  of  righteousness.  But,  no 
matter,  if  the  Great  Expected  should  happen  not 
to  get  there,  all  the  gospel  represented  on  that 
platform  could  not  make  satisfaction  to  the  dis- 
appointed and  anxious  multitude. 

The  service  begins.  There  is  a  song,  "  Hold 
the  Fort,^'  or  something  equally  devotional,  read- 
ing of  a  Scripture  lesson,  prayer,  and  another, 
perhaps  this  time  a  real  Christian  hymn ;  all 
this,  so  far  as  the  bulk  of  the  congregation  is 
concerned,  only  a  "  preliminary  exercise,"  a 
getting  in  tune  for  the  only  thing  the  people 
came  for,  to  see  and  hear  ihe  noted  evangelist. 
"  Is  he  not  coming?"  is  the  burden  of  that  mul- 
titude of  expectant  souls.  But  as  the  last  lines 
of  the  hymn  are  reached,  the  great  man  leaps 


60  THE    LIFE    OF 

upon  the  platform,  scans    his   audience,    looks 
pleased,  steps  to  the  front,  and  reads  his  text. 

But  why  did  he  not  join  in  the  devotional 
services  ?  and  where  was  he  during  that  time  ? 
He  was  in  some  room  behind  the  platform,  gath- 
ering himself  up,  getting  in  mental  trim,  keep- 
ing himself  fresh  for  the  evening's  effort,  and 
letting  the  smaller  frv  (the  D.  D.'s  and  other 
clergy)  attend  to  the  hymns  and  prayers.  The 
impression  upon  the  audience  is  at  once  made 
that  the  devotional  part  of  the  service  is  more 
ornamental  than  useful,  a  sort  of  fringe  or  red 
tape  to  the  sermon  ;  else  why  would  not  the 
saintly  evangelist  join  in  it?  The  sermon,  while 
containing  many  good  and  true  things,  is  what 
might  be  expected  of  one  who  would  presume  to 
build  on  foundations  laid  by  others  on  every 
square  of  the  city..  If  St.  Paul  were  to  come  to 
Philadelphia  or  Baltimore,  he  would  hardly 
tarry  more  than  a  day  or  two,  about  long  enough 
to  pay  his  respects  to  the  brethren  ;  and  then, 
great  and  eloquent  apostle  as  he  is,  he  wcnild 
strike  out  for  some  godless  region  where  C/hrist 
is  not  known,  or  at  least  where  there  is  no 
church.  We  have  the  Apostle's  own  word  for 
it.   (Rom.  15 :  20.) 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  61 

But  our  modern  evangelist  does  not  believe  in 
such  old-fashioned  notions.  He  goes  where 
there  is  no  foundation  to  lay,  where  the  Church 
is  established,  and  where  houses  of  worship  are 
on  every  hand.  And,  worst  of  all,  he  is  encour- 
aged by  many  ministers  and  their  people. 

All  this  belongs  to  the  New  Measure  or  Anx- 
ious Bench  innovation.  The  miserable  results 
should  open  the  eyes  of  its  advocates.  Dr. 
Nevin  saw  through  it  all,  and  raised  his  voice 
against  the  whole  system  as  contrary  to  the 
apostolic  teaching  and  practice. 

But  the  evangelist's  sermon — and  here  the 
fundamental  error  of  this  system  is  laid  bare. 
The  greater  part  of  the  discourse,  and  of  those 
which  followed,  was  a  harangue  against  faith  in 
Church  ordinances.  He  warned  his  hearers  that 
they  should,  above  all  things,  put  no  faith  in 
baptism.  "  You  can't  be  saved  by  baptism.  I 
tell  you,  if  you  think  baptism  will  save  you,  you 
may  find  out  your  mistake  when  it  is  too  late. 
Why,  if  I  believed  that  people  were  saved  by 
baptism,  you  wouldn't  catch  me  going  over  the 
country  preaching.  I  would  go  through  the 
streets  with  a  bucket  of  water  and  douse  every 
sinner  I  would  meet,  whether  he  wished  it  or 
not." 


62  THE    LIFE    OF 

He  would  do  like  Charlemagne,  who,  in  order 
to  compel  the  Barbarians  to  become  Christians, 
forced  them  into  a  river  and  had  the  baptismal 
formula  pronounced  over  them. 

"  Yes,"  continued  the  speaker,  "  if  baptism 
saves,  then  stop  building  churches,  close  up  your 
theological  seminaries,  let  everybody  be  bap- 
tized, and  we  will  then  have  the  millennium, 
without  the  expense  and  labor  that  would  other- 
wise be  required.  Now,  mind,  I  am  not  speak- 
ing against  the  ordinances  (sic !)  ;  they  are  all 
right  in  their  place  (sic!),  but  I  don't  want  you 
to  depend  on  them  for  salvation."  And  much 
more  of  the  same  sort. 

All  this  shows  that  the  j^i'etended  teacher  of 
God's  Word  had  no  true  idea  of  the  nature  of 
the  Christian  Church  as  the  body  of  Christ,  and 
of  the  divinely  ordained  sacraments  as  channels 
for  the  communication  of  saving  grace.  In  the 
most  flippant  style  he  set  up  a  man  of  straw  by 
presuming  that  multitudes  of  people  ho2)ed  to  be 
saved  by  having  water  poured  over  them,  or  by 
bajitism  without  the  subjective  conditions  of  re- 
pentance and  faith,  and  a  corresponding  life. 
Having  set  up  his  straw  image,  he  displayed  his 
heroism  and  iconoclastic  zeal  by  bravely  knock- 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  63 

iiig  it  down  and  scattering  it  to  the  winds.  And 
the  circle  of  Doctors  and  other  clergy,  and  their 
adherents,  showed  by  their  smiles  and  other  ex- 
pressive signs  that  they  were  well  pleased  with 
the  performance.  This,  now,  is  an  examj^le  of 
the  revival  system  that  carried  its  head  on  high 
and  affected  superior  piety  which  Dr.  Nevin 
opposed  at  ]\Iercersburg.  The  Reformed  Church 
was  in  danger  of  being  drawn  into  it  and  of  los- 
ing her  ancient  churchly  character,  but  God  had 
given  her  a  wise  leader,  and  the  danger  w^as  , 
averted. 

In  the  "  Tract  for  the  Times"  Dr.  Nevin  set~7 
forth  the  positive  as  well  as  the  negative  aspects 
of  the  subject.  Over  against  the  frivolous  Anx- 
ious Bench  idea  and  methods  is  that  which  pre- 
vailed in  the  Church  from  the  beginning,  when- 
ever ignorance  and  fanaticism  did  not  interfere 
— namely  the  educational  and  sacramental  sys- 
tem. The  key-note  of  the  true  idea  of  personal  / 
salvation  and  true  evangelism  was  struck  by  St. 
Peter  on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  in  answer  to  the 
question,  "  INIen  and  brethren,  what  shall  we 
do."  The  men  who  asked  this  solemn  (question 
were  not  tlie  kind  of  sinners  modern  revivalists 
make  them  out  to  be.     Verily  that  second  chap- 


64  THE    LIFE    OF 

ter  of  the  Acts  has  been  about  as  badly  handled 
and  interj^reted  as  could  well  be  conceived. 
Those  three  thousand  converts  have  been  con- 
stantly spoken  of  by  that  class  as  sinners  of  the 
worst  kind,  and  that  their  sudden  conversion 
was  in  all  res2:)ects  like  the  conversion  of  notably 
wicked  and  profane  men  at  a  modern  revival. 

Let  us  see  how  that  is  by  comparison.  There 
is  a  "  revival"  in  progress.  No  one  thinks  of 
being  converted  at  the  first  service,  or  by  the 
first  of  the  series  of  sermons.  No  one  goes  to 
the  anxious  seat,  or  rises  for  prayers,  or  kneels 
at  the  altar  the  first  night ;  nor  the  second,  or 
third,  usually.  AVhy  not  ?  Because,  it  seems,  all 
who  have  any  intention  of  doing  so,  wait  for  some 
one  else  to  make  the  start.  This  being  done,  others 
follow,  and  then  wdiat  ?  That  all  depends  on  the 
character  and  style  of  the  church  or  congrega- 
tion. If  it  is  composed  of  an  ignorant  class  of 
people,  there  will  be  singing  of  exciting  revival 
song,  rant,  confusion,  and  more  or  less  demon- 
stration by  penitents.  The  meeting  at  some 
hour  of  the  night  closes  ;  the  ])enitents  (there 
being  as  yet  no  converts)  go  to  their  homes,  go 
about  their  business  next  day  as  usual,  with  ap- 
parent unconcern,  and  in  the  evening  are  back 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  .  65 

again  at  the  anxious  bench  ;  and  the  same  is  re- 
peated night  after  night,  one  after  another 
meanwhile  receiving  the  "  blessing"  from  above, 
which  is  usually  heralded  by  a  shout,  followed 
by  the  song  :  "  Good  news  gone  to  Canaan." 
How  does  that  all  compare  with  Pentecost  ? 

But  suppose  it  is  a  "  fashionable"  church,  the 
revival  an  ordinary  one,  and  no  union  of  churches 
under  the  lead  of  a  professional  evangelist — it 
will  be  outwardly  different.  The  minister  and 
leading  members  agree  that  Zion  is  languishing 
and  that  something  must  be  done.  The  congre- 
gation needs  reviving  and  sinners  need  conver- 
sion. The  Winter  is  well  advanced,  the.  Christ- 
mas holidays  (not  observed  in  a  Christian  way, 
as  that  is  deemed  superstitious)  are  over,  there 
has  been  a  surfeit  of  high-toned  social  enjoy- 
ment, in  which  religion  seemed  to  be  rather  out 
of  place  ;  but  now  the  church  is  awake  to  the 
necessity  of  getting  up  a  religious  interest,  which 
it  is  resolved  to  do.  The  "  Week  of  Prayer"  is  a 
good  time  to  begin  ;  and  the  week  being  set  apart 
by  general  appointment,  there  would  be  a  good 
opportunity  to  slide  into  a  protracted  service  with- 
out the  appearance  of  "  forcing  a  revival."  The 
preaching  by  the  pastor  is  what  may  be  termed 


66  THE    LIFE    OF 

"  good  ;"  tlie  members  look  serious  ;  interesting 
people  who  are  not  in  full  communion,  and  other 
interesting  people  who  are  regarded  as  simply 
adherents,  seem  to  be  "  impressed."  Invitations 
are  daily  given  to  such  to  attend  the  inquiry 
meeting,  and  after  a  week  or  so,  some  one  is  per- 
suaded to  make  the  start.  Some  others  follow, 
and  the  local  pai)ers  announce,  "  A  revival  in 
progress."  A  neighboring  minister  of  some  rep- 
utation in  revival  work  is  called  to  the  pastor's 
assistance,  and  the  work  goes  bravely  on. 

The  preaching.  In  the  first  place  all  refer- 
ence to  the  Holy  Catholic  Church  as  a  divine 
institution  of  saving  grace  from  Christ,  the 
head,  is  studiously  avoided.  The  'sacraments 
are  not  mentioned.  To  preach  about  Church  and 
sacraments  would  be  regarded  as  throwing  a  wet 
blanket  over  the  awakened  religious  interest 
and  killing  it  outright.  The  doctrinal  standards 
of  the  church  hold  in  check  any  desire  to  declaim 
against  the  holy  sacraments  as  in  any  real  sense 
means  of  grace,  but,  what  is 'no  better,  they  are 
utterly  ignored  (during  the  revival)  and  treated 
with  silent  contempt.  Everything  for  conver- 
sion and  salvation  here  depends  on   the  subjec- 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  67 

tive  state  of  mind,  or  feeling,  resulting  in  a 
"  change  of  heart,"  regarded  as  the  new  birth, 
as  if  this  could  be  without  the  maternal  inter-  ^ 
vention  of  the  Lord's  bride,  the  Church,  with 
her  divinely  appointed  means.  And  so  the 
work  continues  and  ends.  Good  is  accomplished 
— some  good,  at  least, — for  even  a  one-sided  gos- 
pel may  produce  partially  good  results,  in  some 
cases  ;  but  there  must  also  be  much  evil  result- 
ing from  it,  for  a  partial  truth,  or  a  mixture  of 
truth  and  error,  can  certainly  not  accomplish 
the  full  object  of  truth,  pure  and  simple.  Tlie 
nearer  we  are  to  the  truth,  the  nearer  we  are  to 
Christ  and  the  freedom  that  is  in  Him. 

Xow  look  at  the  gospel  as  i^resented  in  the 
second  chapter  of  Acts.  Here  is  a  centre  from 
which  we  may  look  in  all  directions.  Of  the 
day  of  Pentecost  it  can  be  truly  said :  "  This  is 
the  day  which  the  Lord  hath  made  ;  we  will  re- 
joice and  be  glad  in  it."  Ps.  118 :  24.  On  that 
day  the  New  Creation,  as  indicated  by  the  Lord 
in  Paradise,  and  foretold  by  the  prophets,  came 
full  born  into  existence.  It  crowned  and  com- 
pleted Christ's  redeeming  work,  according  to 
His  own  word,  that  the  Comforter  would  come 


68  THE    LIFE    OF 

and  reveal  all  the  mysteries  of  the  gospel  to  His 
disciples,  and  that  He  would  then  fulfil  His 
word,  "  I  appoint  unto  you  a  kingdom,  even  as 
my  Father  apj^ointed  unto  me,  that  ye  may  eat 
and  drink  at  my  table  in  my  kingdom  :  and  ye 
shall  sit  on  thrones,  judging  the  twelve  tribes  of 
Israel."   (Luke  22  :  29,  30.) 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  69 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

The  Contrast. 

The  day  of  Pentecost  was  the  birthday  of  the 
Christian  Church,  the  kingdom  sjDoken  of  in  the 
above  quotation  ;  and  the  account  given  of  it  in 
the  second  chapter  of  the  Acts,  contains,  in  its 
fundamental  principles,  the  constitution  of  the 
one  holy  apostolic  Church  of  Christ  for  all  time. 
That  the  Church  is  of  divine  origin  and  consti- 
tution, is  plain  enough  from  Christ's  words  to 
the  disciples  concerning  it,  but  here  we  have  His 
words  fulfilled :  the  scattered,  uncertain  and 
hesitating  disciples  now  united  into  one  mystical 
body  by  the  eternal  Spirit,  and  filled  by  that 
Spirit  with  the  knowledge  of  heavenly  things, 
and  made  to  understand  all  the  mysterious  utter- 
ances of  Christ  when  He  was  with  them  in  the 
flesh.  The  receiving  of  the  Holy  Spirit  was 
their  baptism  and  ordination  both  in  one,  and 
they  were  now  invested  with  the  full  powers  of 
the  apostolic  office.  Tliey  were  ready  now  to 
fulfil    their   great    commission    from    Christ    to 


70  THE    LIFE    OF 

preach  the  gospel,  and  administer  the  signs  and 
seals  of  His  grace. 

There  were  gathered  at  that  great  Jewish  fes- 
tival— which  on  that  day  became  the  Christian 
Pentecost — Jews  from  all  parts  of  the  world. 
How  gloriously  and  wisely  God  arranged  mat- 
ters in  His  kingdom  of  grace  !  Tiie  Old  Testa- 
ment passes  into  the  New,  and  the  New  absorbs 
all  the  true  elements  of  the  Old.  Christ,  the 
author  of  the  new  creation,  is  its  Head —for 
"  He  is  the  Head  of  the  body,  the  Church,"  and 
His  ordained  ambassadors  represent  His  official 
presence  in  the  Church  on  earth.  Accordingly, 
Peter  preaches  the  initial  sermon,  a  sermon 
which  contains  the  essential  elements  of  the 
Christian  salvation.  The  hearers  are  devout 
Jews,  who  had  come  to  worship  at  the  feast.  It 
is  evident  they  gave  the  closest  attention  to  the 
sermon,  as  the  result  proves,  and  the  most  per- 
fect order  must  have  prevailed.  Peter  in  his 
sermon  did  not  inveigh  against  his  hearers  as  if 
they  were  a  morally  bad  set  of  men,  but  calmly, 
yet  most  forcibly,  reasoned  with  them  out  of 
their  own  Scri]itures,  to  prove  that  Jesus  was 
the  Christ.  He  told  them,  indeed,  that  by  the 
hands  of  wicked  men  they  slew  Him   of  whom 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  71 

their  prophets  wrote,  but  yet  without  a  hint  that 
they  were  consciously  ungodly  men  ;  that,  as  he 
afterwards  said,  in  ignorance  they  did  it,  and 
that  they  would  all  obtain  mercy,  if  they  would 
now  believe  in  Him  whom  they  crucified  as  a 
malefactor.  The  sermon  produced  the  effect 
that  might  be  expected  on  men  of  devout  spirit 
and  r.easonable  minds.  Without  any  unnatural 
excitement,  but  with  sincere  conviction  of  the 
truth  as  delivered  by  Peter,  they  inquired  what 
they  should  do. 

Now  up  to  this  point,  what  resemblance  can 
be  found  between  this  whole  scene  and  the  mod- 
ern revival  as  already  described  ?  There  is  none 
at  all.  In  the  first  place  the  transactions  on  the 
day  of  Pentecost  were  of  a  nature  not  to  be  re- 
peated in  such  form ;  not  any  more  than  could 
the  birth  or  the  death  of  Christ  be  repeated. 
The  Spirit  was  given  and  the  Church  was  born 
once  for  all.  The  powers  of  the  world  to  come 
were  now  lodged,  complete  and  organized,  in  the 
new  creation  effected  by  the  divine  Spirit.  It 
was  the  grand  miracle  of  the  ages,  all  the  divine 
works  of  grace  finding  in  it  their  glorious  solu- 
tion and  meaning.  It  was  the  great  new  Sab- 
bath day  of  the  new  spiritual  world  in    which 


72  THE    LIFE    OF 

Christ  lives  and  reigns  as  head.  In  the  second 
j^lace  the  preaching  of  Peter  was  addressed  to 
men  who  were  in  good  and  reguhir  standing  in 
the  Old  Testament  Church,  and  in  their  way 
honest  and  devout ;  and  in  it  was  the  design  of 
God  that  these  children  of  Abraham  should  be 
gathered  in  as  the  first  fruits  of  the  finished  re- 
demption. It  was  not  then  with  them  a  case  of 
sudden  conversion  after  the  modern  revival  or- 
der. It  was  the  conviction,  under  the  preaching 
of  an  inspired  apostle,  that  Jesus  was  the 
Christ,  which  led  those  devout  Israelites  to  Him 
and  into  His  new-born  Church. 

But  the  answer  of  Peter  to  the  question  : 
"  What  shall  we  do  ?"  The  question  implied  that 
they  were  willing  and  ready  to  d<j  whatever  the 
apostles  would  direct.  There  is  not  the  least 
sign  here  that  those  men  thought  only  or  chiefly 
of  the  punishment  God  might  inflict  on  them  for 
the  rejection  of  His  son.  They  were  "  pricked 
to  the  heart ;"  they  realized  the  enormity  of  the 
sin  which  they  had  committed  ;  but  evidently  it 
was  the  sin  itself,  and  hot  the  dread  of  punish- 
ment, that  burdened  their  hearts  ;  and  it  was 
release  from  sin  and  to  be  placed  in  right  rela- 
tions with  God  that  they    desired.     The    New 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  73 

Measure  system  could  not  flourish  at  all  with 
such  peojile  for  mourners  or  inquirers. 

The  answer  of  Peter  is  plain,  direct  and  sim- 
ple, and  of  eternal  significance.  "  Kepent ;" 
that  is,  change  your  mind  with  regard  to  Jesus, 
and  accept  Him  as  your  Christ  and  Saviour. 
Love  Him  whom  you  formerly  hated  as  a  pre- 
tender and  blasphemer ;  and  then  come  into 
full  communion  and  fellowship  with  Him  and 
receive  the  remission  of  your  sins  and  tlie  new 
birth  into  His  kingdom  of  grace ;  that  is,  "  be 
baptized  every  one  of  you,  in  the  name  of  Jesus 
Christ  for  the  remission  of  sins,  and  ye  shall  re- 
ceive the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost." 

This  they  did.  They  were  not  told  to  get 
down  on  an  anxious  bench  and  endure  spell  af- 
ter spell  of  mental  torture  until  relieved  by  some 
divine  influence.  As  for  "  law  work,"  they  had 
had  enough  of  that  under  Judaism,  and  they 
now  heard  the  glad  sound  of  the  Gospel. 

According  to  the  modern  Puritanic  Gospel  it 
would  be  very  dangerous  to  answer  religious  in- 
quirers as  St.  Peter  did,  by  telling  them  that 
baptism  is  for  the  remission  of  sins.  But  very 
likely  Peter  was  right,  and  they  are  wrong. 

Then  the  great  apostle  continued  his  answer  : 
6 


74  THE    LIFE    OF 

"  For  the  promise  is  unto  you  and  your  chil- 
dren." The  promise  that  God  had  made  to  Abra- 
ham, that  He  woukl  bless  him  and  his  seed, 
is  here  renewed ;  and  as  little  children  under 
the  old  covenant  were  made  members  of  the 
family  of  God  by  circumcision,  so  now  they  were 
not  left  out  in  the  cold  world.  No,  the  little 
ones  whom  Christ  took  u})  in  His  arms  and 
blessed  are  not  to  be  denied  the  covenant  bless- 
ings of  the  Gospel  dispensation,  "  for  of  such  is 
the  kingdom  of  God."  And  thus  was  the 
Christian  Church  established  ;  not  according  to 
the  varying  moods  of  men,  but  according  to  the 
'wisdom  of  God ;  not  according  to  the  spirit  of 
our  modern  unhistorical  and  upstart  sectism,  but 
according  to  the  spirit  of  truth,  unity  and  peace. 
The  Church  was  established  as  a  famil}^ — the 
family  of  God — with  all  that  such  constitution 
implies,  in  which  Christian  households  include 
all,  from  the  oldest  to  the  youngest,  within  their 
warm  and  loving  embrace. 

But  modern  revivalism  practically  ignores  all 
this.  The  baptized  children  are  classed  among 
the  uncovenanted  children  of  the  world,  their 
baptism  having  no  relation  whatever  to  what  is 
called  their  conversion.     We  might  scarcely  ex- 


.  JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  75 

pect  anything  better  of  those  sects  whose  minis- 
ters are  as  ignorant  as  the  people  whom  they 
pretend  to  instruct,  but  the  same  is  true  of  re- 
ligious bodies  that  claim  almost  a  monopoly  of 
the  brains  and  culture  of  Christendom. 

Take  the  case  of  an  eminent  New  England 
divine,  a  man  of  unquestioned  learning  and 
piety.  He  brought  up  his  children  in  the  most 
approved  religious  manner,  and  with  the  desired 
success.  At  a  certain  period  in  the  history  of  this 
pious  family  a  little  son  of  eight  years  took  ill  and 
died.  The  reverend  father  bent  over  the  dying 
child,  his  grief  seeming  to  be  controllable  until 
his  daughter,  a  girl  of  ten  years,  spoke  such 
words  of  Christian  consolation  that  his  sorrow 
was  almost  turned  into  joy.  The  account  says  : 
"  While  her  father  and  mother  were  weeping  at 
the  bed-side  of  the  dying  boy,  the  little  daughter 
whispered  into  their  ears  words  of  peace  and 
hope.  Her  conduct  at  such  an  hour  was  a  re- 
storing cordial  to  the  wounded  hearts  of  the  par- 
ents, w^io  found  in  the  heavenly-mindedness  of 
one  child  consolation  for  the  loss  of  another." 
But  now  behold  the  sudden  fall  from  the  sublime 
to  the  ridiculous  ;  for  thus  the  narrative  pro- 
ceeds :  "  Shortly  after  the  death  of  this  brother 


76  THE    LIFE    OF 

Mary  became  in  heart  and  life  a  Christian." 
What  was  she  when,  "  heavenly-minded,"  ^he 
gave  Christian  consolation  to  her  agonized  par- 
ents ?  *'  She  passed  throngh  that  mysterious 
change  which  some  denominate  '  regeneration  ;' 
which  she  described  by  the  expression,  '  I  have 
found  God.' "  Who  and  where  was  lier  God 
when  she  manifested  so  much  Christian  piety  ? 
But  this  is  not  all.  Her  father  (too  bad,  after 
accepting  her  consoling  ministry  in  a  most  try- 
ing hour)  was  unwilling  that  she  should  make  a 
public  profession  of  faith  in  Christ,  for  fear  that  af- 
ter all  she  was  not  born  again  and  truly  converted. 
"  He  could  not  endure  the  thought  that  she 
should  enter  the  Chui-ch  (where  was  she  up  to 
that  time  — in  the  waste,  howling  wilderness?) 
without  a  saving  evangelical  change,"  and  he 
would  not  have  her  "  substitute  the  sprinkUng  oj 
water  for  the  baptism  of  Christ's  blood." 

Ah,  there  !  the  secret  is  out.  The  "  heavenly- 
minded"  child  had  been  baptized  in  infancy,  but 
the  learned  and  pious  father  looked  upon  the 
baptism  as  only  a  "  sprinkling  of  water,"  and  a 
mere  form  empty  as  the  wind.  There  was  no 
grace  in  it  that  he  could  conceive  of;  it  was  to 
him  an  empty  sign  of  what  is  of  the  highest  mo- 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  77 

meut,  but  obtainable  only  after  many  years,  and 
after  passing  through  a  series  of  humanly  pre- 
scribed mental  horrors.  In  other  words,  the  best 
of  children,  though  baptized  into  Christ  and 
pressed  with  His  own  arms  to  His  bosom,  are 
not  Christians  until  they  have  passed  through 
some  such  ordeal.  Then  what  was  the  spiritual 
condition  of  that  dying  boy  ?  and  of  that  saintly 
sister  whose  "  prudent"  father  waited  long  after 
that  before  he  received  her  into  the  Church  ?' 
AVhat  if  Mary  had  died  just  before  "  she  passed 
through  that  mysterious  change  which  some  de- 
nominate regeneration" — what  would  have  been 
her  condition  after  death  ?  O  thou  heartless 
modern  unchurchly  and  rationalistic  Christian- 
ity, decked  in  the  livery  of  superior  piety  and 
evangelicalism  par  excellence !  to  rob  children 
of  the  divine  covenant  of  the  blessing  which 
Christ  imjoarted  and  declared  was  theirs  !  To 
deny  baptism  to  children  is  bad  enough  ;  to 
grant  it  and  then  treat  it  as  a  mere  form,  with- 
out life  or  substance,  is  infinitely  worse. 

Now  such  was  largely  the  state  of  things  in  ' 
the  churches,  whose  early  history  should  have 
taught  them  something  far  better,   during  Dr. 
Nevin's  first  three  years  at  Mercersburg.     The 


78  THE    LIFE    OF 

nature  of  the  Church,  as  clearly  sh(3wn  by  the 
New  Testament  account  of  its  organization,  had 
been  very  much  lost  sight  of.  Every  profes- 
sional revivalist  treated  the  second  chapter  of 
the  Acts  as  simply  an  account  of  a  big  revival, 
like  those  of  modern  times.  The  real  meaning 
and  significance  of  the  Christian  day  of  Pente- 
cost was  almost  unknown.  Religion  was  re- 
garded as  a  matter  which  every  individual  was 
to  see  to  without  regard  to  any  mediating  office 
in  the  Church — a  false  spiritualism  which  ac- 
cepted baptism,  but  saw  in  it  nothing  but  an 
outward  sign  of  what  could  exist  as  well  without 
it.  The  Lord's  Supper  fared  no  better  in  the 
general  estimate.  So  the  Church — the  only  con- 
ception of  it  was,  the  numerical  sum  of  Christian 
believers  joined  together  like  grains  of  sand  in 
a  heap.  How  different  the  Church  of  Pentecost, 
as  described  by  St.  Paul :  "  By  one  Spirit  are 
we  all  baptized  into  one  body."  (1  Cor.  12 :  13.) 
What  a  mighty  contrast  between  the  Church  as 
here  presented  and  the  abstract  nothing  of  mod- 
(_ern  revivalism.  The  one  is  an  object  of  faith, 
"  the  pillar  and  ground  of  the  truth  ;"  the  other 
i^!  a  mere  human  conception,  having  the  sacra- 
mental bonds  without  acknowledging  their  bind- 
ing and  saving  virtue  as  divine  means  of  grace. 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  79 

111  a  similar  way  other  portions  of  holy  Scrip- 
ture are  treated  by  this  class.  They  do  not 
seem  to  know,  for  instance,  that  the  aj^ostolic 
Epistles  were  addressed  only  to  Christian 
Churches.  As  a  natural  consequence  the  great- 
est mistakes  are  often  made  by  23reachers  who 
select  certain  passages  as  texts  for  sermons  to 
uncovenanted  sinners,  which  were  originally  in- 
tended for  Christian  people  only.  I  once  heard 
a  doctor  of  divinity  preach  from  the  text  : 
"  Quench  not  the  Spirit."  His  entire  address 
was  to  impenitent  sinners  (and  he  made  no  dis- 
tinction between  baptized  and  unbaptized),  in 
which  he  maintained  that  all  men  had  some- 
thing of  the  divine  Spirit  in  them,  and  Paul's 
exhortation  was  that  they  should  not  quench  it. 
To  prove  his  assertion  that  all  men  have  the 
Spirit,  he  cited  1  Cor.  12 :  7 — "  For  a  manifes- 
tation of  the  Spirit  is  given  to  every  man  to 
profit  withal"— and  declared  with  great  empha- 
sis of  voice  and  gesture  that  no  other  Scripture 
proof  was  necessary  for  the  purpose.  The  ig- 
norance displayed  by  that  "  doctor"  was  inex- 
cusable and  deplorable,  and  yet  that  is  a  fair 
sample  of  the  kind  of  treatment  the  Bible  re- 
ceives at  the  hands  of  a  very   large  number  of 


80  THE    LIFE    OF 

preachers.  The  passage  has  reference  to  Christ- 
ians only,  and  occurs  in  a  discourse  on  the  nature 
and  constitution  of  the  Christian  Church  which 
may  be  regarded  as  a  complete  connnentary  on 
the  second  chapter  of  Acts.  Indeed  the  whole 
idea  of  subjective  emotionalism  in  religion  is  a 
perversion  of  the  fundamental  principles  of  the 
doctrine  of  Christ,  which  is,  as  He  said  to  Nico- 
demus,  not  an  emotion  or  "  change  of  heart," 
but  a  new  birth  from  above,  and  that  by  water 
and  the  Spirit,  in  order  to  any  real  citizenship 
in  the  kingdom  of  God  on  earth,  and  union 
with  its  head,  Jesus  Christ.  The  jjopular  theol- 
ogy of  fifty  years  ago  had  no  real  church  con- 
sciousness, scarcely  anything  more  than  its  per- 
version as  sect  consciousness,  and  sometimes  not 
even  that.  As  a  consequence  the  Bible  was 
either  pressed  into  the  special  service  of  some 
favorite  sectarian  shibboletli,  or  used  in  a  gener- 
ally loose  way,  there  being  no  proper  sense  of 
the  great  central  principles  of  Christianity  as 
formulated  and  focalized,  for  example,  in  the 
Apostles'  Creed. 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  '  81 


CHAPTER   IX. 

The  Pilot  Steers  Straight. 

Dr.  Neviu  had  got  down  to  work  at  Mercers-! 
burg  with  a  will.  The  Church  question  took 
hold  of  him  and  he  took  hold  of  it.  It  was  a 
new  experience,  for  up  to  that  period  in  his  life 
the  subject  had  not  been  ^^ressed  at  all  in  the  re- 
ligious circle  in  which  he  moved,  except  as  re- 
ferring to  a  denomination  of  Christians,  or 
vaguely  to  the  Church  at  large,  with  no  special 
concern  as  to  the  doctrine  of  the  holy  Catholic 
Church  of  the  Apostles'  Creed.  But  he  now 
found  himself  in  a  more  free  and  open  field  of 
theological  thought  in  the  Reformed  commun- 
ion, and  seeing  that  this  Church  was  in  danger 
of  losing  its  identity  by  following  in  the  ways  of 
other  denominations,  and  of  losing  all  proper 
sense  of  the  true  idea  of  the  Church  as  the  body 
of  Christ  and  the  mother  of  all  true  believers,  he 
carefully  studied  the  subject  on  every  side  and 
in  all  its  bearings,  and  then  uttered  his  voice,  in 
which  there  was  no  uncertain  sound.     He  pub- 


82  THE    LIFE    OF 

lislied  his  famous  work  entitled  ''  The  Anxious 
Bench."  It  was  like  a  bomb  falling  and  explod- 
I  ing  in  a  crowded  camp.  Dr.  Nevin  was  not 
made  after  the  manner  of  those  who  employ  am- 
biguous phrases  and  conciliatory  circumlocu- 
tions. He  only  needed  to  know  that  he  was  en- 
gaged in  a  good  cause,  and  made  no  calculations, 
nor  indulged  anticipations,  in  regard  to  any  re- 
sult to  himself.  He  wrote  his  "  Ti^act  for  the 
Times,"  and  sent  it  forth,  as  a  true  physician 
would  prepare  medicine  and  administer  it  with- 
out consulting  the  taste  of  the  patient.  In  this 
instance  heroic  treatment  was  necessary,  and 
there  was  no  shrinking  from  the  responsibility 
in  the  case. 

The  effect  was  tremendous.  Notices  and  cri- 
ticisms were  like  Autumn  leaves  in  number. 
The  Reformed  Church  as  a  whole  applauded  the 
work  and  its  author  to  the  echo.  ,  Even  many 
who  had  been  carried  away  on  the  wave  of  New 
Measureism  hailed  it  as  their  deliverer  from  the 
whirlpool  of  false  revivalism.  Very  few,  if  any, 
in  the  Keformed  Church  opposed  the  new  book. 
It  settled  completely  their  minds  on  the  question 
at  issue. 

In  other  Christian   bodies  there  were  varied 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  83 

results.  One  part  of  the  Lutheran  Church  con- 
demned it,  while  another  and  larger  part  gave 
to  it  its  unqualified  endorsement.  So  of  others. 
But,  as  was  to  be  expected,  the  Tract  was  furi- 
ously assailed  from  various  quarters.  I  well  re- 
member when,  in  my  twelfth  year,  I  read  a  vio- 
lent rejoinder  published  as  a  counter-blast,  in 
which  the  writer  represented  Dr.  Nevin  as  in 
the  bonds  of  Satan,  and  as  his  emissary,  trying 
to  overthrow  the  cause  of  true  religion.  This 
writer  also  expressed  the  hope  that  Dr.  Nevin 
would  see  his  error,  and  would  himself  bow  at 
the  anxious  bench  and  be  converted  from  the 
error  of  his  ways.  A  Lutheran  minister,  whom 
I  knew,  employed  his  pen  diligently  for  years 
against  the  book,  using  the  most  bitter  language 
in  characterizing  it  and  its  author.  This  same 
minister,  a  few  years  ago,  publicly  retracted 
every  word  he  had  uttered  against  Dr.  Nevin 
and  his  Tract  against  the  Anxious  Bench,  and 
declared  it  to  be  his  firm  conviction,  after  years 
of  experience  and  careful  study  of  the  subject, 
that  the  Mercersburg  Professor  was  right,  and 
merited  the  gratitude  of  all  right  thinking  men 
for  the  good  he  accomplished  by  his  timely  and 


84  THE    LIFE    OF 

powerful  utterances.  Many  others  of  that  Church 
have  given  similar  testimony. 

The  Tract  itself,  uncompromising  as  it  was 
against  the  system  which  it  attacked  and  showed 
that  it  had  nothing  solid  on  which  to  rest,  did 
not  breathe  a  word  of  contempt  or  dislike  for 
the  people  who  employed  the  modern  innova- 
tion in  evangelistic  work.  Its  object  was  solely 
to  advance  the  cause  of  truth  ;  to  show  the  bet- 
ter way  ;  to  tear  down  a  false  system,  that  the 
true  one  might  be  restored  to  its  place ;  to  open 
the  eyes  of  the  people,  that  they  might  behold 
Zion  in  its  beauty  and  excellence ;  to  set  forth 
the  true  principles  of  Christianity  ;  to  explain 
the  mysteries  of  the  kingdom  of  God,  as  these 
are  embodied  in  the  heavenly  mystery  of  Christ's 
^T^hurch.  Dr.  Nevin  saw  more  and  more  that 
in  American  Protestantism  current  sentiment 
was  running  into  rationalism  and  Pelagianism, 
unconsciously  indeed,  but  nevertheless  with  sure 
tread  in  that  fatal  direction.  To  the  unthink- 
ing, and  to  ordinary  minds  in  general,  no  dan- 
ger could  be  farther  removed  than  that.  Ameri- 
can Puritanism  professed  to  be  spiritual  above 
all  otlier  forms  of  Christianity.  The  contrast 
between  it  and  what  may  be  called  the  church- 


JOHN    W.    NEVIlSr.  85 

liness  of  the  older  Protestant  bodies  was  regarded 
as  tlie  contrast  between  spirituality  and  dead 
formalism.  So  it  appeared  to  superficial  observ- 
ers, but  on  close  inspection  it  is  seen  that  genu- 
ine spirituality  exists  only  where  there  is  true 
and  practical  faith  in  the  Church  and  her  ordi- 
nances ;  and  that  discounting  the  grace-bearing 
character  and  office  of  the  Church  and  her  sac- 
raments is,  so  far,  bowing  to  the  demands  of 
mere  human  reason.  It  is  false  spiritualism^ 
that  is  in  the  end  rationalism,  and  asks,  like 
Nicodemus,  "  how  can  these  things  be  ?"  Or, 
like  some  other  Jews,  "  how  can  this  man  give 
us  his  flesh  to  eat  ?"  Dr.  Nevin  exposed  the 
error  in  all  its  magnitude,  and  made  it  descend 
with  shame  from  the  uppermost  seat  in  the 
synagogue.  It  has  scarcely  succeeded  since  in 
getting  back  to  its  old  place. 

But  it  is  not  good  to  pull  down,  unless  there 
is  also  a  building  up.  Dr.  Nevin  did  not  stop 
with  the  negative  business  of  exposing  error. 
He  pointed  out  the  right  way,  and  proclaimed 
positive  truth.  The  Educational  System,  he 
maintained  by  unanswerable  argument,  was  the 
only  true  one.  To  this  the  Reformed  Church 
had  been  committed  from  her  historical   begin- 


86  THE    LIFE    OF 

ning  ;  to  this  he  woiihl  bring  her  back,  now  that 
she  seemed  to  be  wavering,  and  he  succeeded. 
He  wakened  up  the  sleeping  consciousness  of 
that  old  mother  Church  of  the  Reformation,  and 
put  her  on  the  right  road.  May  she  never  wan- 
der from  it. 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  87 


CHAPTEK  X. 
True  Evangelism. 

To  evangelize  or  make  disciples  of  all  nations 
is  the  mission  of  the  Church,  committed  by 
Christ  to  His  apostles  and  their  successors  in  the 
Christian  ministry. 

St.  Paul  says,  "  Faith  cometh  by  hearing,  and 
hearing  by  the  word  of  God  ;"  and  the  Heidel- 
berg Catechism  affirms  this  divine  word  by  as- 
serting that  "  the  Holy  Ghost  works  faith  in  the 
heart  by  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel,  and  con- 
firms it  by  the  use  of  the  sacraments."  And 
Christ,  in  the  great  commission,  told  the  apostles 
to  teach  the  disciples — the  baptized — to  observe 
all  things  that  He  had  commanded  them,  with 
the  i^romise  that  He  would  be  with  them  to  the 
end  of  the  world. 

Here  we  have  in  clear  and  unmistakable 
terms  the  authority  for  what  is  called  the  educa- 
tional system  of  evangelism.  According  to  it 
the  authorities  in  the  Church  are  authorized  and 
obliged  to  set  forth  in  right  order  the  principles 


88  THE    LIFE    OF 

of  revealed  truth,  in  due  form,  for  the  Christian 
training  of  chikiren  and  all  who  iieed  elemen- 
tary religious  instruction.  Accordingly,  from 
the  beginning  of  Christian  history  there  has 
been  in  the  Church  a  class  called  catechumens, 
that  part  of  a  Christian  community  which  is 
comj^osed  of  the  baptized  children  and  youth, 
and  others  who  may  be  seeking  baptism  and  full 
admission  into  the  Church.  In  eai-ly  times  it 
was  a  common  thing  for  men  and  women  of  the 
highest  standing,  including  princes  and  nobles, 
to  attend  catechetical  instruction.  This  was 
the  old  apostolic  system,  which  was  regarded  as 
essential  in  evangelical  work  by  the  entire 
Church,  and  has  only  been  rejected  within  a 
comparatively  recent  period,  not  by  the  histori- 
cal Church,  but  by  ignorant  upstart  sects,  and 
practically  by  denominations  whose  constitutions 
and  re2:ulations  teach  better  thino's. 

The  educational  system  attaches  to  the  very 
idea  of  Christianity  and  the  Church.  In  what 
other  way  could  there  be  promoted  a  healthy 
Christian  life  ?  What  is  there  in  religious  ex- 
citement and  spasmodic  fervor  and  zeal  without 
knowledge  that  is  of  permanent  value  ?  The 
Church    cannot    g-row    and    bear    the   fruits    of 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  89 

righteousness  by  fits  and  starts,  no  more  than 
things  in  the  natural  world,  where,  as  Christ 
himself  tells  us,  in  speaking  of  the  nature  of  His 
kingdom,  there  appears,  "  first  the  blade,  then 
the  ear,  after  that  the  full  corn  in  the  ear." 
According  to  Christ,  the  apostles,  all  church  his- 
tory, and  common  sense,  there  is  only  one  right 
method  of  evangelization — the  educational. 

Dr.  Nevin  had  now  made  a  fair  and  success- 
ful start  as  a  jniblic  teacher  and  leader  in  the 
Church  of  his  adoption.  Instead  of  trying  to 
lead  his  adopted  Church  over  to  the  one  from 
whicli  he  came — of  which  lie  never  entertained 
a  thought, — he  labored  to  make  the  Reformed 
Church  know  herself  and  her  glorious  history, 
to  consider  well  her  position  as  a  mother  in  Is- 
rael, her  Catholic  spirit  and  character,  and  her 
oecumenical  symbol  of  faith,  the  Heidelberg- 
Catechism.  He  warned  her  to  he  true  to  her- 
self, and  not  be  misled  into  strange  ways  by  the 
l)yrotechnic  displays,  stage  performances  and 
pietistic  rant  of  mountebank  revivalists.  Then 
came  from  his  powerful  pen  "  The  History  and 
Genius  of  the  Heidelberg  Catechism,"  in  whicli 
he  continued  the  positive  work  of  strengthening 
7 


90  THE    1,1  FE    OF 

the  hands  and  hearts  of  those  in  whose  special 
service  he  was  called  to  labor. 

In  tliis  work,  as  also  in  the  extensive  intro- 
duction to  the  Tercentary  edition  of  the  Cate- 
chism, and  numerous  other  writings.  Dr.  Kevin 
exhibited  the  superior  excellence  of  the  Reformed 
Confession  of  Faith,  and  especially  as  having  no 
equal  as  a  method  of  instruction  preparatory  to 
confirmation.  The  amount  of  writing  he  did  on 
the  Catechism  was  sufficient  of  itself  to  give  him 
literary  fame ;  but  it  did  much  more — it  awak- 
ened up  the  Reformed  Church  to  a  joyful  sense 
of  her  true  existence,  and  her  true  genius  and 
mission.  For  this  alone  the  Church  owes  him 
a  perpetual  debt  of  gratitude ;  and  the  very  best 
way  to  pay  the  debt  will  be  for  all — ministers 
and  laity — to  read  carefully  what  he  wrote  on 
their  cherished  summary  of  Christian  doctrine. 
It  will  jjay  with  interest  every  one  who  may 
have  read  them  years  ago  to  read  them  again ; 
and  ihose  who  have  not  3^et  become  familiar  with 
their  contents,  should  not  delay  to  form  their 
acquaintance. 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.        -  91 


CHAPTER   XI. 

Dr.  Philip  Schait". 

The  im2:)ul8e  Dr.  Neviii  had  received  from 
association  with  Dr.  Kauch  was  of  great  account 
to  him  and  his  work  in  the  combined  institutions 
of  college  and  theological  seminary.  The  first 
three  years  of  his  life  in  Mercersburg  were  a 
period  of  great  mental  activity  and  most  import- 
ant practical  results.  His  introduction  to  the 
vast  stores  of  German  wisdom  by  his  learned 
colleague  was  rapidly  followed  by  intimate  lit- 
erary acquaintance  with  the  land  of  ideas.  He 
became  a  thorough  German  scholar  and  a  master 
of  German  thought  in  the  spheres  of  theology 
and  philosophy,  as  was  clearly  proved  by  his 
literary  productions.  He  was  regarded  as  a 
master  in  Israel  and  a  leader  whom  Reformed 
people  could  trust.  No  one  envied  him  on  ac- 
count of  his  superiority,  but  all  were  proud,  as 
inferiors,  to  sit  at  his  feet  and  learn.  He  was  the 
Gamaliel  of  the  Reformed  Church,  and  he  be- 
came such  by  devoting  himself  and  all  the  ener- 


92  THE    LIFE    OF 

gies  of  his  giant  intellect  and  loving  heart  to 
the  advancement  of  her  people  in  Christian 
knowledge  and  virtue. 

But  it  is  not  good  for  even  the  greatest  men 
to  be  alone.  Dr.  Nevin  enjoyed  the  compan- 
ionship of  the  college  professors,  and  that  was  of 
great  account  to  him  ;  and  the  friendships  he 
had  formed  with  congenial  spirits  in  the  Re- 
formed ministry  and  laity,  made  him  feel  com- 
fortable and  at  home  ;  yet  no  one  of  these  could 
fill  the  place  of  the  lamented  Dr.  Kauch.  He 
needed  a  colleague  and  a  helper,  one  who  could 
in  a  manner  complement  his  own  being,  and 
vice  versa,  by  mutual  compensation  each  filling 
out  what  might  be  wanting  in  the  other.  After 
three  years  of  this  sort  of  loneliness  there  was  a 
great  change.  The  vacant  place  was  filled  by 
Dr.  Philip  Schafi". 

Dr.  Schafi",  a  professor  in  the  great  university 
of  Berlin,  was  elected  by  the  Beformed  Synod  of 
the  United  States,  in  October,  1843,  Professor  of 
Church  History  and  kindred  branches  in  the 
Seminary.  He  accepted  tlie  appointment,  and 
began  his  labors  in  Mercersburg  in  the  following 
year. 

The  new  })rofessor  was  young,   only  twenty- 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  d'd 

five,  yet  he  had  ah^eady  become  distinguished 
even  in  the  literary  cai)ital  of  the  world.  He 
was  a  man  of  profound  and  varied  learning,  and 
gave  promise  of  a  career  which,  then  only  seen 
through  the  mists  of  the  uncertain  future,  is  to- 
day known  and  read  of  all  men,  and  is  second  to 
that  of  no  other  man  in  America.  It  was  a 
happy  day  for  Dr.  Nevin  when  Dr.  Schaff  ar- 
rived at  Mercersburg.  The  great  loss  of  three 
years  before  was  now  made  u[),  and  the  vacant 
place  was  again  filled.  Henceforth,  if  it  pleased 
God,  two  great  and  congenial  minds  would  work 
together  in  the  great  cause  of  Christian  education. 
It  was  also  the  beginning  of  a  new  era  in  the 
life  and  work  of  Dr.  Nevin. 

Dr.  Schaff  prepared  (and  delivered  in  part) 
an  inaugural  address,  wdiicli  at  once  raised  the 
highest  public  expectation  in  regard  to  him,  and 
established  his  rei)utation  for  great  talent  and 
scholarly  ability.  The  address  was  published  in 
pamphlet  form,  with  a  very  able  and  aj^itreciative 
introduction  by  Dr.  Nevin.  It  was  a  revelation 
of  new  and  strange  doctrines  to  many  outsiders, 
but  the  membership  of  the  Reformed  Church 
had  already  been  prepared  by  Dr.  Nevin  to  hear 
such  sentiments  as  were  contained  in  the  address, 


94  THE    LIFE    OF 

and  they  were  welcomed  and  applauded  every- 
where throughout  her  borders,  with  only  a  few 
individual  exce2:>tions. 

Tlie  subject  of  the  address  was,  "  The  Principle 
of  Protestantism,"  in  which  true  Protestantism 
was  thoroughly  sifted  out  of  a  mass  of  ill-grown 
notions,  which  had  become  moss-grown  and  fixed 
as  the  hills  in  the  ordinary  thinking  of  the 
American  Church.  A  great  cry  was  raised  in 
Puritanic  quarters  against  this  new  and  sudden 
demonstration  coming  from  the  usually  unde- 
monstrative Reformed  household,  and  hands  were 
held  up  in  holy  horror  at  the  idea  of  there  being 
anything  wrong,  one-sided,  or  stupid,  in  the 
system  of  thought  and  doctrine  which  Puritanism 
had  prescribed  as  the  rule,  law  and  testimony  for 
the  evano'elical  Church  of  America.  There  was 
considerable  wringing  of  hands,  and  trembling 
for  the  ark  ;  Init  all  the  same,  the  young  lion 
roared,  and  it  became  tolerably  certain  that 
pseudo  or  false  Protestantism  had  to  yield  up  a 
considerable  part  of  its  sovereignty. 

The  two  names,  Nevin  and  Schaff,  became 
closely  linked  together,  in  the  minds  of  the 
people,  like  Alexander  and  Coesar,  or  Clay  and 
Webster. 

How  I  remember  Dr.  Schaffs  arrival  from 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  95 

Germany,  when  I  was  a  boy  of  twelve  years, 
and  the  lively  conversations  between  him  and 
my  mother.  Years  afterwards,  when  I  was  one 
of  his  theological  students,  Jie  frequently  spoke 
of  her,  and  of  the  pleasant  and  profitable  con- 
versations he  had  with  her  when  he  fii'st  came 
to  America.  The  invariable  form  of  greeting 
he  sent  to  her  was  :  "  Give  my  love  to  your 
mother  ;  she  is  such  a  smart  old  lady."  Her 
Christian  faithfulness  in  the  training  of  her 
children,  and  her  noble  virtues,  are  my  apology 
for  alluding  to  her  here.  --| 

Thus,  in  the  providence  of  God,  two  men  of 
extraordinary  al)ility  stood  shoulder  to  shoulder 
at  the  head  of  the  Reformed  institutions  of  learn- 
ing. Tliey  worked  together  in  perfect  harmony, 
and  never  consulted  flesh  and  blood  when  they 
found  it  necessary  for  truth's  and  righteousness' 
sake  to  attack  error  in  high  theological  places, 
and  to  weigh  in  the  balances  of  truth  and  find 
wanting  long  cherished  theologies  and  mummi- 
fied theories  of  Christianity.  They  became  dis- 
turbers of  the  long  peace  of  the  self-complacent, 
self-satisfied  and  groove-bound  Puritanic  the- 
ology, and  broke  the  Kip  van  Winkle  slum- 
ber  and   conceit   of  the    negative    Protestant- 


96  THE    LIFE    OF 

ism  that  was  unconsciously  going  to  seed. 
They  fearlessly  proclaimed  that  true  Protest- 
antism and  true  Christianity  were  not  to  be 
judged  and  measured  by  opposition  to  Roman- 
ism, but  by  the  standard  of  positive  truth 
as  contained  in  the  Word  of  God  and  formulated 
by  the  Church  in  her  (ecumenical  creeds.  In 
the  popular  Christianity  of  the  time  there  was 
no  real  sense  of  an  objective  order  and  kingdom 
of  saving  grace.  Between  the  subject  and  God 
there  was  supposed  to  be  nothing.  The  Church, 
as  visible,  was  regarded  simply  as  a  conveni- 
ence ;  and  as  invisible,  a  mere  abstraction  ;  and 
the  sacraments,  symbols  only  of  what  could 
exist  as  well  without  them.  So  also  Christ  him- 
self was  regarded  as  chiefly  a  legal  instrument 
brought  into  existence  as  a  divine  after-thought 
through  the  accidental  fact  of  sin — a  |)ivot  on 
which  to  turn  the  scale  of  justice  and  effect  hu- 
man deliverance  from  the  consequences  of  guilt. 
Salvation  was  viewed  as  the  result  of  a  commer- 
cial or  governmental  scheme,  in  which  there  was 
a  scrupulous  balancing  of  book  accounts  between 
God  and  the  sinner ;  and  these  being  fairly  ad- 
justed, there  followed  God's  imputation  of  right- 
eousness, which  righteousness  belonged  solely  to 


JOHN    W.    NEVIX.  97 

Christ,  however,  and  was  merely  set  down  to  the 
sinner's  credit  as  if  his  own,  though  in  no  sense 
his  own  in  reality.  Then  again  the  very  oppo- 
site of  all  this  was  virtually  taught  by  the  same 
prevailing  Puritanic  school.  Instead  of  the  me- 
chanical legal  arrangement,  there  was  insisted 
upon  as  a  prime  condition  of  salvation  a  power- 
ful soul  struggle,  an  inward  subjective  conten- 
tion, in  which  faith  played  scarcely  any  part  at 
all,  a  wrestling  as  in  a  night-mare  to  get  away 
from  the  spot  over  which  hung  the  sword  of 
divine  justice,  or,  in  common  phrase,  to  "flee  the 
wrath  to  come ;"  and  at  last  coming  out  of  all 
this  conflict  with  flying  colors  and  with  the  self- 
complacency  of  a  hero  to  whom  was  due  all  the 
glory  of  the  victory. 

Ill  all  this  the  Church  as  the  body  and  bride 
of  Christ,  and  as  "  the  pillar  and  ground  of 
the  truth,"  was  systematically  ignored.  i 

Dr.  Schaff,  having  Dr.  Xeviii  at  his  side,  was 
not  lono-  in  learnino;  what  was  the  state  of  the 
American  Church  and  the  reigning  spirit  of 
Puritanism  with  its  lofty  claims  and  shallow 
pretensions.  He  and  his  powerful  colleague 
pricked  the  stupendous  bubble,  and  it  has  been 
collapsing  ever  since. 


98  THE    LIFE    OF 


CHAPTER  XII. 
A  Review. 

Before  the  arrival  of  Dr.  Scliaff,  Dr.  Nevin 
had  performed  single-handed  an  immense  amount 
of  work  for  the  Church.  He  had  laid  a  foun- 
dation for  the  future  that  was  broad  and  deep. 

He  diligently  and  conscientiously  studied  the 
great  questions  in  theology  and  philosophy,  and 
the  social  problems  that  pressed  on  his  attention, 
and  gave  the  results  to  the  Church  and  to  the 
world. 

His  inaugural  address,  on  the  nature  and 
importance  of  the  Christian  ministry,  was  a  most 
thorough  and  solemnly  earnest  presentation  of 
the  divine  office.  It  produced  a  profound  im- 
pression, and  also  settled  permanently  the  ques- 
tion as  to  the  wisdom  of  the  Synod  in  choos- 
ing him  to  be  the  chief  teacher  in  the  Church. 

His  love  for  the  German  language  and  high 
regard  for  the  German  people,  who  constituted 
a  considerable  })ai't  of  the  Reformed  family  in 
America,  was  soon  })erceive(l  and  appreciated. 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  99 

He  made  a  trip  tlirough  Eastern  Pennsylvania 
to  see  the  conntry  and  become  better  acquainted 
with  the  German  speaking  people.  He  was  both 
surprised  and  delighted  with  what  he  saw.  Not 
only  was  the  country  through  which  he  travelled 
of  surpassing  beauty  and  fertility  of  soil,  but  he 
saw  on  every  hand  fine  church  buildings  and 
school  houses,  and  discovered,  through  free 
intercourse  with  many  of  the  people,  that  they 
had  in  them  the  timber  to  make  men  of  the 
highest  character  and  quality. 

During  that  pleasant  journey  he  had  occasion 
to  make  practical  use  of  his  knowledge  of  the 
German  language.  I  remember  how  I  heard  of 
it  when  I  was  a  boy,  and  helped  to  discuss  it  at 
the  family  hearth,  and  how  strange  we  thought 
it  would  seem  to  hear  one,  who  had  just  recently 
been  a  Scotch  -  Irish  American  Presbyterian 
divine,  preach  in  the  German  language.  But  it 
was  so.  The  sermon  was  actually  delivered, 
and  that  Berks  county  congregation  has  the 
honor  of  hearing  the  only  German  sermon  ever 
preached  by  the  greatest  theologian  in  America. 
No  doubt  many  who  heard  that  sermon  are  still 
living  and  have  a  lively  recollection  of  the  effort 
of  an  "  Irisher"  trying  to  adapt  his  tongue  to  the 


100  THE    LIFE    OF 

peculiar  flexions  and  idioms  of  their  language. 
I  confess,  I  heartily  envy  the  men  and  women 
now  living  who  heard  that  sermon. 

Dr.  Nevin  returned  from  his  Eastern  tour 
with  fresh  zeal  in  behalf  of  his  Anglo-German 
Church.  And  the  more  he  learned  of  the 
American  German  people,  the  more  he  admired 
their  simple  virtues  and  character  ;  and  he  bent 
himself  to  the  work  of  elevating  them  to  the 
position  to  which  they  had  the  natural  capacity 
to  attain.  And  since  that  day  many  a  grand 
and  noble  living  statue  has  been  created  by  that 
master  hand  out  of  the  unpolished  material  in 
the  German  sections  of  the  State. 

During  this  period  Dr.  Nevin  wrote  a  great 
deal  for  the  Reformed  "  Messenger"  on  such 
topics  as  he  believed  required  special  attention, 
all  which  was  read  with  the  greatest  avidity. 
He  also  lectured  to  the  students — or  rather,  he 
delivered  an  address  —on  a  special  occasion,  on 
the  German  language,  in  which  he  showed  the 
marvellous  power  and  flexibility  of  that  queen 
of  modern  tongues,  and  recommended  its  thor- 
ough study.  The  address  was  proof  of  its 
author's  complete  mastery  of  the  German  lan- 
guage, and  it  would  be  profitable  for  the  present 
generation  to  look  it  up  and  read  it. 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  101 

One  of  the  most  important  of  Dr.  Nevin's 
prodnetions  during  this  period  was  at  its  close, 
and  may  be  said  to  mark  the  transition  to  the 
next :  I  refer  to  his  "  Sermon  on  Catholic 
Unity,"  preaclied  at  the  Triennial  Convention  of 
the  two  Reformed  Churches,  and  published  with 
an  English  translation  which  he  made  of  Dr. 
Schaff's  "  Principle  of  Protestantism." 

This  sermon  is  proof  positive  that  Dr.  Nevin 
was  no  church  partisan,  and  that  he  was  as  far 
removed  from  sectarian  bigotry  as  the  jwles  are 
from  each  other.  He  rejoiced  in  the  name  Re- 
formed, not  because  it  designated  a  certain  divi- 
sion in  the  Lord's  army,  but  because  it  repre- 
sented, in  name  and  historical  fact,  catholicity, 
unity,  charity. 

It  w^as  not  uncommon  at  that  time,  or  ever 
since,  to  hear  utterances  on  Christian  unity. 
Many  of  both  clergy  and  laity  have  used  voice 
and  pen  to  promote  it,  and  no  doul)t  with  sin- 
cerity. But  generally  there  has  been  a  2)ainful 
lack  of  the  true  idea  and  conception  of  such 
unity.  Many  practical  attempts  have  been  made 
in  this  direction  in  the  way  of  joining  forces  in 
evangelistic  work,  or  in  conventions  where 
leaders  and  })eople  have  met  in  right  good   fel- 


102  THE    LIFE    OF 

lowship,  and  a  momentary  enthusiasm  lias  taken 
hold  of  the  assembly.  Unfortunately  much  of 
the  union  sentiment  about  which  we  hear  a 
great  deal  is  not  the  genuine  article,  and  has 
little  of  the  spirit  of  that  church  unity  which 
was  the  burden  of  our  Lord's  intercessory 
prayer,  and  the  subject  of  many  an  ai)ostolic  dis- 
course, as  we  can  see  in  the  epistles  of  St.  Paul. 
There  have  been  ])lenty  of  union  talkers  who 
would  catch  at  every  opportunity  to  make  pros- 
elytes for  their  own  sect  from  the  very  bodies 
about  whom  they  would  say  fine  things  at  union 
meetings.  I  have  a  distinct  recollection  of  a 
"  union  effort"  in  one  of  our  large  Pennsylvania 
towns,  about  twenty-five  years  ago.  Its  object, 
as  declared,  was  "  to  take  the  town"  by  a  mighty 
shoulder  to  shoulder  effort,  in  which  all  the 
evangelical  Churches  were  expected  to  join, 
especially  the  ministers  and  leading  members. 
There  was  to  be  a  weekly  union  prayer  meeting, 
regular  meetings  for  conference,  and  general 
union  services,  in  whicli  all  were  expected  to 
take  part. 

I  state  here  as  an  historical  fact  that  the  most 
enthusiastic  of  the  leaders  of  that  movement 
were  men  who,  as  events  proved,  were  the  most 


JOHN    W.    iVEVlN.  103 

eager  to  swell  the  ranks  of  their  membership  at 
the  expense  of  the  dear  sister  churches  of  the 
town. 

But  the  Reformed  pastor  did  not  join  in  the 
union  effort,  as  he  thought  all  his  time  should  be 
devoted  to  the  interests  of  his  large  parish  ;  and, 
besides,  he  had  no  faith  in  any  good  likely  to 
come  of  it.  He  thought,  if  all  the  pastors  would 
do  their  duty  among  their  own  people,  it  would 
be  far  better.  As  for  himself,  there  is  not  to 
be  found  one  more  faithful  than  he  in  all  pas- 
toral work.  He  was  on  the  most  friendly  terms 
with  his  ministerial  brethren  of  the  town,  and 
was  universally  regarded  as  singularly  free  from 
sectarian  bigotry,  and  would  be  the  last  person 
in  the  world  to  move  a  finger  toward  increasing 
his  church  by  encroachments  on  a  neighboring 
pastor.  He  was  aggressive,  going  beyond  the 
limits  of  his  pastoral  charge,  and  frequently 
brought  in  men  from  the  world,  but  never  from 
any  other  orthodox  branch  of  the  Church.  In 
fact,  he  made  more  conquests  in  this  way  than 
any  other  pastor  in  the  place.  When  the  union 
movement  started  up,  the  Reformed  pastor  re- 
fused to  join  in  it,  and  was  freely  criticised  and 
even  denounced   by   his  good   brethren   for  his 


104  THE    LIFE    OF 

negative  course  in  the  matter.  At  some  of  the 
union  meetings  he  was  loudly  prayed  for,  that 
the  scales  might  fall  from  lii-^  eyes,  and  that  he 
might  be  made  to  see  the  glory  of  the  Lord  as 
manifested  in  the  united  effort  of  God's  peo23le 
to  advance  His  kingdom  and  save  precious  souls 
— but  all  to  no  purpose.  The  meetings  con- 
tinued many  weeks,  and  as  there  is  an  end  of 
all  such  things  here  below,  so  there  was  an  end 
to  this.  Then  came  a  dividing  of  the  spoils. 
Then  he  who  imagined  himself  to  be  the  lion, 
thought  he  should  have  the  lion's  share.  Then 
there  was  a  quarrel  between  the  two  that  were 
biggest ;  then  a  newspaper  fight.  Then  the  less 
distinguished  of  the  evangelic  leaders  got  into 
the  fight ;  and  then,  of  course,  the  rank  and  file 
followed,  divided  into  as  many  bands  as  there 
were  sectarian  interests  at  stake.  Then  out- 
siders (the  poor  sinners)  looked  on  and  chuckled, 
thinking  they  were  about  as  good  as  these  fight- 
ing parsons  and  their  adherents.  Then  the 
"  converts"  beij-an  to  doubt  whether  after  all 
there  was  anything  in  "  religion,"  and  gradually 
they  relieved  themselves  of  any  further  trouble 
about  it  ])y  falling  into  their  old  ways  and  to  the 
world.    Then,  after  the  news})aper  wnr  was  ended 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  105 

(the  editors,  after  long  endurance,  had  to  shut 
down  on  the  disgraceful  scrimmage),  sensible 
[)eople  began  to  see  that  there  can  be  Christian 
unity  without  such  forced  admixture  and  com- 
mingling ;  that  the  several  parts  of  a  unity  can 
best  perform  their  functions  in  their  own  way 
and  separately,  and  that  the  spirit  of  unity  and 
peace  is  the  principal  thing.  Then,  after  that 
colossal  union  effort,  it  was  seen  that  the  Re- 
formed pastor  had  accomplished  more  in  the 
way  of  true  evangelism  than  all  the  rest  put 
together  ;  had  not  brought  scandal  on  the  min- 
istry or  compromised  Christianity  itself;  was 
respected  by  all  sensible  people,  and  was  at 
peace  with  all.  He  had  carefully  read  and 
studied  Dr.  Nevin's  sermon  on  Christian  unity, 
was  in  full  accord  with  it,  and  at  all  times  en- 
deavored to  practise  its  j^recepts. 

Dr.  Xevin's  sermon  was  not  then  a  sentimen- 
tal plea  for  great  union  demonstrations  in  any 
shape  or  form,  but  for  the  true  Christian  spirit 
of  unity  as  inculcated  by  Christ  and  the  Apos- 
tles, There  cannot  be  a  true  sentiment  on  this 
subject,  however,  without  a  true  Church  spirit 
and  correct  views  in  regard  to  the  Church  it- 
self. "  There  is  one  body,  and  one  sj^irit,  even 
8 


106  THE    LIFE    OF 

as  ye  are  called  in  one  hope  of  your  calling:  one 
Lord,  one  faith,  one  baptism,  one  God  and  Fa- 
ther of  all"  (Eph.  4:  4-(3),  and  this  was  the 
text  on  which  the  sermon  was  based.  The  or- 
ganic unity  of  God's  people  is  there  clearly  af- 
firmed, as  also  in  many  other  places.  "  One 
Lord,  one  faith,  one  baptism" — "  one  bodj^'  and 
one  spirit" — one  holy  Catholic  Church,  whose 
Head  is  Christ,  and  whose  spiritual  life  is  from 
Him.  A  right  apprehension  of  this  great  truth 
is  necessary  to  promote  the  "  unity  of  the  Spirit 
in  the  bonds  of  peace." 

As  the  Church  actually  exists,  divided  into 
separate  ecclesiastical  bodies  or  denominations, 
the  full  expression  of  catholic  unity  is  wanting  ; 
that  is,  the  New  Testament  ideal,  in  which  all 
Christians  "  with  one  mind  and  one  mouth  glo- 
rify God,  even  the  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ"  (Rom.  15:  6),  is  not  now  realized. 
Then  all  the  more  reason  for  considering  the 
question  as  it  confronts  us  and  forces  itself  upon 
our  attention,  in  view  of  the  lamentable  and 
senseless  divisions  in  the  Church,  in  face  of  the 
high  priestly  prayer :  "  That  they  all  may  be 
one ;  as  thou,  Father,  art  in  me,  and  I  in  Thee, 
that  they  also  may  be  one  in  us."   (John  17  :  21.) 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  107 

Dr.  Neviii  in  this  sermon  showed  the  import- 
ance of  cultivating  the  spirit  of  Christian  unity 
as  an  essential  principle  in  a  practical  godly  life. 
We  cannot  get  away  from  the  denominational 
system  at  once,  but  the  way  may  be  prepared 
for  outward  unity  by  coming  more  and  more  to 
a  true  sense  of  what  the  Church  really  is  as  the 
body  of  Christ,  and  what  the  truth  concerning 
the  Church  involves,  and  especially  by  bearing 
practical  testimony  to  the  truth  contained  in 
this  article  of  the  Christian  taith,  life  and  action 
corresponding  with  the  profession :  "  I  believe 
in  the  holy  Catholic  Church  ;  the  communion  of 
saints." 

Dr.  Nevin  being  a  public  teacher  in  the  Re- 
formed branch  of  the  Church  catholic,  was  true 
to  her  interests  ;  but  what  did  he  consider  her 
interests  to  be  ?  Did  he  believe  her  right  posi- 
tion was  that  of  a  rival  to  other  branches  of  the 
Church,  and  that  his  high  mission  would  be  ac- 
complished if  he  could  place  her  in  the  lead  ? 
That  was  far  from  his  thought ;  he  knew  of 
nothing  of  interest  to  his  denomination,  except 
what  pertained  to  the  Church  universal ;  and 
that  her  sole  object  in  all  her  activities  should 
be  the  glory  of  Christ,  the  Head  of  the  whole 


108  THE    LIFE   OF 

Body,  and  the  salvation  of  all  men.  Since  in 
the  Providence  of  God  we  belong  to  different 
branches  of  the  one  Chnrch,  our  Christian  life 
and  works  must  be  in  one  of  them  ;  yet  we 
should  at  the  same  time  rise  in  thought  and  af- 
fection far  above  the  partial  and  sectional,  even 
to  the  heaven-born,  white-robed  bride  of  the 
Lord,  all  glorious  within,  and  without  spot  or 
blemish. 

The  sermon  on  catholic  unity  was  a  grand 
230stscript  to  the  English  edition  of  Dr.  Schaff's 
Principle  of  Protestantism.  It  may  be  said  to 
be  the  entering  wedge  of  Dr.  Nevin's  numerous 
contributions  on  the  Church  question  which  fol- 
lowed, the  forerunner  of  perhaps  the  most  re- 
markable and  powerful  discussions  of  that  period. 
Webster  once  said  of  Hamilton  :  "  He  struck 
the  rock  of  the  national  resources,  and  the 
abundant  stream  of  revenue  gushed  forth."  Dr. 
Nevin  smote  the  rock  wherein  were  hid  too  long- 
some  of  the  richest  treasures  of  theology,  and  the 
abundant  streams  of  Gospel  light  gushed  forth. 
His  foundation  was  Christ  and  His  Church,  as 
embracing  in  a  living,  organic  form  the  whole 
trutli  of  the  Gospel.  He  looked  no  longer  to 
any  abstract  doctrine  as  the  centre  and  starting 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  109 

point  in  theology,  but  to  Christ  Himself  as  the 
principle  and  source  of  all  truth,  and  the  Church 
as  the  organ  of  His  saving  grace  and  holding 
the  Word  of  divine  revelation,  committed  to  her 
care  as  the  leaves  of  the  Tree  of  Life  for  the 
healing  of  the  nations.  "  This  is  a  great  mys- 
tery ;  but  I  speak  concerning  Christ  and  the 
Church."  (Eph.  5:  32.)  The  Lord's  bride, 
His  mystical  body,  the  mother  of  all  true  be- 
lievers. 

Dr.  Nevin's  earnest  and  profound  looking 
into  this  glorious  mystery  of  Christ  and  the 
Church  produced  in  his  mind  the  most  j)ractical 
ideas  and  inferences.  The  truth  concerning  the 
Church,  her  catholicity,  unity  and  holiness,  en- 
joined uj)on  every  member  the  duty  of  main- 
taining, according  to  the  grace  given  to  each 
one,  the  spirit  of  unity  and  peace. 

He  also  saw  in  the  Reformed  communion  a 
broad  field  for  the  free  and  unobstructed  work- 
ing out  of  all  the  theological  problems  that  de- 
manded solution,  and  for  the  development  of 
theological  science  from  that  fontal  [)rinciple  of 
Christianity — Christ  and  the  Church. 


110  THE    LIFE    OF 


CHAPTER  XIII. 
A  Ten  Years'  >Var. 

The  next  ten  years  in  the  life  and  work  of 
Di*.  Nevin  were,  in  many  respects,  or  altogether, 
the  most  important  period  in  his  extraordinary 
career.  It  was  for  him  a  decade  of  hard  work, 
learned  and  earnest  controversy,  and  the  erection 
of  a  theological  structure  against  which  no  oj^po- 
sition  has  yet  prevailed — a  monument  to  his 
memory  more  enduring  than  granite  or  brass. 

If  there  could  he  erased  from  the  printed  page 
and  from  the  tablets  of  memory  the  records  of 
that  2^eriod  in  the  life  of  Dr.  Nevin, — or,  rather, 
if  the  facts  in  the  case  had  never  existed, — there 
would  be  a  great  historical  vacuum  in  the  world 
of  mind,  and  a  condition  far  below  that  which 
now  exists. 

Theological  science  was  confined  at  that  time 
in  America  to  fixed  limits,  and  was  run  in 
grooves  made  and  cut  in  some  approved  fashion, 
and  was  expected  to  show  its  loyality  by  never 
for  a  moment  leaving  its  appointed  track.    There 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  Ill 

were  several  varieties  of  po])ular  theology,  which 
sometimes  on  meeting  would  show  an  amount  of 
polemical  activity  and  zeal  worthy  of  the  best 
cause,  Calvinism  and  Arminianism,  on  occa- 
sions, would  outdo  political  partisanship  itself  in 
fierceness  of  controversy.  The  points  of  differ- 
ence were  only  points,  but  they  were  sharp,  and 
when  used  as  missiles  it  was  sometimes  not 
eminently  wholesome  to  be  within  range.  How 
we  used  to  hear  from  Arminian  pulpits  the  un- 
musical changes  rung  on  the  dreadful  five  points 
of  Calvinism,  until  the  five  points  seemed  like 
five  horns  of  some  horrible  apocalyptic  monster  ; 
to  all  which  Calvinists  would  reply  with  equal 
severity.  Orthodoxy  (which  generally  meant 
faith  in  some  doctrinal  hobby)  was,  in  the  popu- 
lar estimation,  the  Church,  and  the  Church  in 
any  other  view  was  an  object  of  suspicion.  To 
talk  about  the  Church  as  a  visible  kingdom  of 
divine  grace,  and  about  religion  as  more  than  a 
mental  and  spiritual  state,  as  holding  in  the  body 
of  Christ,  the  Church,  in  connection  with  her 
sacramental  energies  and  life  forces,  would  imj)ly 
a  dangerous  departure  from  true  S})irituality, 
which  must  hold  away  as  far  as  possible  from 
religious  forms,  and  use  them  only  because  there 


112  THE    LIFE   OF 

seems  to  be  a  divine  command  to  do  so.  As  for 
the  rest,  every  one's  subjective  states  must  be 
for  him  gosj^el,  religion,  Church  and  all.  And 
religion  being  altogether  subjective  in  its  nature 
and  essence  (a  sort  of  mode  of  motion),  why 
should  any  special  account  be  made  of  Church 
and  sacraments  ?  If  religion  is  the  result  of  a 
spiritual  coming  out  of  Egypt,  of  a  trembling 
beneath  the  thunderings  and  lightnings  of  Sinai, 
or  a  wrestling,  like  Jacob  with  God,  of  an  arrest 
in  the  mad  career  of  sin,  and  three  days'  blind- 
ness, as  in  the  case  of  Saul,  then  what  has  the 
Church  to  do  with  it  ?  The  Church  is  a  very 
proper  place  for  people  after  -they  have  become 
full-fledged  Christians,  but  the  new  birth,  with 
all  that  it  implies  (no  matter  what  the  confes- 
sions of  faith  say) ,  must  take  place  on  the  out- 
side. Thus  writes  a  minister  of  the  Gospel  (a 
college  and  seminary  graduate)  to  a  brother 
seeking  Christian  counsel : 

"  I  suppose  you  could  live  a  Christian  life 
without  joining  the  Church  ;  but  in  that  case 
you  would  not  be  fully  recognized  as  a  Christ- 
ian. There  would  be  doubt  in  the  minds  of 
some  concerning  your  conversion,  as  it  is  exjiec- 
ted  of  converts  that  they  profess  their  faith  in 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  113 

Christ  publicly.  Then,  too,  your  old  compan- 
ions may  still  regard  you  as  one  of  them,  so  long 
as  you  are  not  formally  united  with  God's 
people,  and  will  the  less  hesitate  to  invite  you 
to  their  resorts.  If  you  join  the  Church,  your 
new  course  of  life  and  refusal  to  take  jiart  in  sin- 
ful practices  will  not  create  surprise,  for  even 
sinners  take  note  of  consistency  and  admire  it. 
I  earnestly  advise  you  then  to  unite  with  the 
Church — not  that  there  is  any  virtue  or  essential 
benefit  in  such  act  itself,  but  because  of  the  ad- 
vantages you  would  secure  by  so  doing." 

This  is  a  fair  sample  of  the  false  views  con- 
cerning the  Church  as  held  by  large  and  influ- 
ential bodies  of  American  Christians  when  Dr. 
Nevin  at  Mercersburg  rapped  them  to  order, 
and  called  them  to  account.  Then  he  took  his 
stand  for  the  old  Church  doctrine  and  exposed 
the  shallow  pretensions  of  the  reigning  Puritanic 
theology.  It  was  no  small  task  he  took  in  hand. 
The  prevailing  sentiment  was  against  him,  espec- 
ially outside  of  the  Reformed  and  parts  of  a  few 
other  denominations. 

The  literature  of  the  Sunday  schools  was  gen- 
erally of  the  most  unchurchly  character,  much 
of  it  teaching  sentimental  morality  without  any 


114  THE    LIFE    OF 

positive  Christian  trutli,  and  never  a  word  about 
Church  and  sacraments.  Here  is  an  example  of 
the  teaching  in  the  especially  solemn  kind  of 
Sunday  school  books : 

Helen  Jones,  a  young  lady  belonging  to  a 
Christian  family,  and  carefully  brought  up  af- 
ter the  most  approved  Puritanic  fashion,  received 
an  invitation  to  a  })arty.  She  was  sternly 
advised  by  a  severely  prudent  aunt  not  to  go. 
But  as  the  young  lady  thought  she  would  enjo}'' 
the  party  and  its  innocent  diversions,  she  went. 
The  exposure  to  the  cool  night-air  on  the  way 
home  was  followed  by  an  attack  of  pneumonia, 
causing  her  death  after  an  illness  of  one  week. 

During  this  time  there  was  no  lack  of  spirit- 
ual doctors  who  undertook  her  case  and  pre- 
scribed the  remedies  which  seemed  to  be  needed. 
She  was  made  to  understand,  first  of  all,  that 
her  illness  was  a  divine  judgment  for  having 
attended  a  social  party  against  the  godly  advice 
of  her  pious  aunt  (though  with  the  consent  of 
her  equally  pious  parents),  and  that  she  was 
therefore  a  terrible  sinner.  These  casuistical 
doctors  then  produced  their  nerve  -  racking- 
medicines  and  poured  them  into  the  soul  of  the 
young  sufferer.     She   must  atone  for  her  sins 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  115 

(tliey  will  tell  her  about  Christ  later  on — never 
mind)  by  a  repentance  concerning  the  reality  of 
which  there  must  be  no  doubt ;  she  must  realize 
the  horr(n's  of  the  damned,  that  she  may  know 
the  full  extent  of  her  guilt ;  that  only  then  she 
will  l)e  released  by  a  gracious  God  from  the 
power  of  His  anger,  for  the  sake  of  Christ  who 
paid  lier  debt  on  condition  that  she  first  pass 
through  the  terrors  of  an  accusing  conscience, 
and  have  a  taste  in  this  world  of  the  death  which 
never  dies.  Such,  and  much  more  of  the  same 
kind,  was  the  medicine  administered  to  a  tender 
soul  when  the  body  was  racked  with  pain.  But 
in  this  case,  at  least,  the  strong  New  England 
spiritual  drugs  failed  to  produce  the  desired 
effect.  The  young  lady,  after  the  mental  terrors 
produced  by  the  awful  remedies  had  subsided, 
became  wonderfully  calm  and  resigned — but, 
alas  !  resigned  to  what  she  believed  to  be  her  aw- 
ful fate.  She  sent  for  some  of  her  young  friends, 
and  with  the  calmness  of  despair  addressed  them 
on  the  importance  of  religion,  and  of  preparation 
for  death  and  eternity.  As  for  herself,  she  said 
it  was  too  late  ;  that  she  was  lost,  lost  forever  ; 
but  she  wished  ])efore  she  died  to  warn  her  sur- 
viving companions  against  delay  in   the  most 


116  THE    LIFE    OF 

important  of  all  matters.  She  had  hoped  that  she 
was  a  Christian,  but  discovered  too  late  that  she 
was  not.  "  When  I  am  gone,"  she  said,  "  think 
of  miserable  Helen,  and  strive  to  enter  in  at  the 
strait  gate  of  life  immortal.  Make  religion  your 
chief  concern,  and  do  not  waste  a  moment  in  the 
indulgence  of  the  fleeting  pleasures,  such  as  I 
pursued  a  week  ago,  and  which  have  brought 
me  to  this  dreadful  condition,  the  loss  of  my 
soul."  And  with  many  more  words  of  like 
character  she  exhorted  those  around  her.  Now 
who  would  not  say  that  the  dying  girl,  deceived, 
mocked  and  terrorized  by  such  "  miserable  com- 
forters," was  a  better  Christian  than  they  all  ? 

Such  abominable  stuff  I  w^as  reading  b}^  day 
and  dreaming  about  in  the  night  watches,  when 
Dr.  Nevin  began  the  work  of  driving  out  such 
traders  from  the  Lord's  temple.  And  of  this 
general  character  was  the  greater  part  of  our 
American  Sunday  school  literature  at  that  time. 
Througli  its  influence  religion  was  looked  upon 
as  a  miserable  and  doleful  necessity,  as  a  nau- 
seating dose,  a  nostrum  that  was  kill  or  cure, 
which  i)rudence  would  advise  to  accept,  not  for 
its  own  sake,  but  as  a  remedy  against  what  is 
worse  (perhaps  !)  than  the  horrid  remedy  itself. 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  117 

Here  was  one  of  the  errors  in  religion  wliicli  Dr. 
Nevin  laid  low  during  the  ten  years'  war. 

There  was  also  in  the  reigning  popular  reli-1 
gious  thinking  what  may  be  called  ultra  Prot- 
estantism, distinguished  by  extreme  and  fanati- 
cal hatred  of  Roman  Catholicism.  A  man's 
Protestantism  was  gauged  by  the  length  he 
could  go  in  abusing  and  vilifying  that  faith. 
Such  was  the  general  Protestant  teaching  on 
that  subject,  that  Roman  Catholics  were  either 
pitied  on  account  of  the  certainty  of  their  dread- 
ful doom,  or  thoroughly  hated.  It  was  allowed_j 
by  some  that  here  and  there  were  good  Chris- 
tians among  Romanists,  but  they  were  the  few 
exceptions,  and  were  Romanists  only  in  form 
and  not  in  reality.  Dr.  Nevin  could  not  possi- 
bly take  a  comprehensive  view  of  the  truths  he 
was  under  solemn  obligation  to  teach,  without 
seeing  and  attacking  the  falsehood  and  errors 
wliicli  lay  in  that  direction.  The  results  to  him- 
self he  never  weiglied  or  considered.  He  was 
concerned  only  for  the  truth,  and  never  stoj^jped 
to  consider  the  commotion  that  would  be  raised 
against  himself,  or  any  other  result,  knowing 
that  "  truth  is  mighty  and  shall  prevail." 

Then  there  was  another  class  of  people  thaP 


118  THE    LIFE    OF 

he  had  to  encounter — the  High  Church  Episco- 
palians, whose  lofty  j^i'etensions  about  "  apostolic 
succession,"  and  other  exclusive  ecclesiastical 
prerogatives  and  claims,  he  kncxiked  into  smith- 
ereens. 

Then  he  undertook  the  task  also  of  presenting 
to  the  Church  and  to  the  world  the  true  Re- 
formed doctrine  concerning  the  Lord's  Supper, 
which  he  did  in  the  ablest  work  ever  written  on 
the  subject.  This,  too,  helped  to  continue  the 
ten  years'  war. 

Then  the  two  opposite  i)oles  of  Protestantism 
— that  is.  High  Church  Episcopalianism  and 
Puritanism — each  claimed  to  be  the  exact  copy 
of  the  ancient  Church,  and  connected  with  it  by 
a  relationshi])  that  was  indisputable,  an  exact 
reproduction  in  every  respect — an  odd  claim, 
surely  !  But  Dr.  Nevin  proved  that  both  par- 
ties were  color  blind,  and  therefore  no  judges  in 
the  case  at  all.  He  spoiled  their  pretty  dream 
so  conn)letely  that  the  (pieer  fable  has  scarcely 
been  repeated  since.  But  the  writings  in  which 
he  settled  forever  the  two  claimants,  became  for 
other  reasons  a  target  for  arrows  of  eveiy  de- 
scription. 


JOHN    W.    NEVIX.  119 

Then  came  Ins  powerful  plea  for  Protestant- 
ism ;  and  this  time  it  was  a  distinguished  Ro- 
man Catholic  that  contended  with  him. 

But  we  must  take  up  this  period,  briefly,  in 
detail,  the  whole  history  of  which  would  fill 
volumes. 


120  THE    LIFE    OF 


CHAPTER  XIV. 
A  Speck  of  War. 

The  conflict  was  inev^itable.  Cherished  theo- 
ries and  opinions,  of  long  growth,  cannot  be  as- 
sailed without  causing  antagonism.  Drs.  Neviu 
and  Schaft'  had  no  desire  to  stir  up  strife  and 
contention  among  Christian  })eople,  but  they 
were  charged  with  the  duty  of  teaching  truth, 
which  they  determined  to  do,  if  necessary,  at  the 
expense  of  personal  comfort  and  repose,  and  of 
the  peace  which  may  be,  after  all,  only  a  cover 
under  which  Satan  finds  j^i'otection  in  his  as- 
saults upon  the  Church  of  Christ. 

Though  the  Reformed  clergy  and  laity  almost 
unanimously  endorsed  the  teachings  of  the  Mer- 
cersburg  ^^I'ofessors,  there  were  still  a  few  who 
opposed  them.  Among  these  was  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Berg,  pastor  of  the  Race  Street  Reformed  church 
in  Philadelphia.  He  was  a  man  of  ability,  a 
fine  pulpit  orator,  quick  and  sharp  in  debate, 
and  a  born  controversialist.  He  edited  a  reli- 
gious journal  called   the   "  Protestant   Banner," 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  121 

in  which  the  most  ultra  Protestantism  was  main- 
tained and  the  Roman  Church  represented  in 
its  very  worst  features.  Dr.  Berg  wrote  and 
lectured  against  Romanism,  and  was  one  of  tjie 
great  leaders  in  this  country  in  opposition  to  the 
Church  of  Rome,  which  was  freely  designated 
as  "  the  harlot,"  "  the  man  of  sin,"  "  the  scarlet 
woman."  Witli  Dr.  Berg  were  several  other 
ministers  and  a  few  prominent  laymen,  who 
thought  they  did  sf)ecial  service  to  the  cause  of 
truth  by  doing  all  in  their  power  against  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church.  They  affected  great 
horror  of  such  Romish  tenets  as  "  works  of 
supererogation,"  "  penance,"  and  the  "  meritori- 
ousness  of  good  works,"  but  they  certainly 
seemed  to  think  that  Protestants  who  were  sjie- 
cially  zealous  in  fighting  Rome,  would  be 
specially  rewarded  at  the  Great  Assize,  if  not 
sooner.  With  many  people  the  hatred  of  Rom- 
ish doctrines  is  very  much  modified  by  "  the 
way  the  wind  blows."  Nevertheless,  deducting 
all  rel^ates  and  discounts,  Dr.  Berg  and  his  co- 
believers  were  thoroughly  and  irreconcilably 
dead  set  against  popery. 

It  could  not  then  be  exjDCCted  that  they  could 
by  any  possibility  be  silent,  especially  Dr.  Berg, 
9 


122  THE    LIFE    OF 

when  he  was  informed  that  Dr.  Nevin  was  teach- 
ing that  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  was  part 
of  the  Church  of  Christ.  The  charge  itself  was 
a  true  bill,  and  Dr.  Nevin  did  not  deny  it,  but 
re-affirmed  and  sustained  the  truth  of  it  by  ar- 
gument, when  the  subject  was  brought  to  his 
attention.  Dr.  Berg  had  made  an  attack  upon 
him,  charging  him  with  defection  and  surrender 
to  the  great  enemy  of  true  religion,  and  of  being 
false  to  his  trust  as  a  teacher  in  a  Reformed 
pseminary.  Dr.  Nevin  replied  in  several  articles 
in  the  "  Messenger,"  headed  "  Pseudo-Protest- 
antism," in  which  he  showed  that  it  was  very  bad 
Protestantism  to  affirm  that  the  Roman  Church 
was  no  Christian  Church  at  all,  and  that  her 
sacraments  and  ordinances  were  without  validity, 
thus  consigning  that  immense  body  of  professing 
Christians  to  the  world  and  the  devil.  The 
General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
having  thus  affirmed  by  a  formal  deliverance. 
Dr.  Charles  Hodge,  of  the  Princeton  Theological 
Seminary,  and  everywhere  regarded  as  a  prince 
in  the  Presbyterian  Church,  was  exceedingly 
mortified  and  disgusted  by  what  he  regarded  as 
an  outrageous  declaration,  thus  agreeing  fully 
with  Dr.  Nevin  on  that  point.     Why  imitate 


L^ 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  123 

the  Roman  Clmreh  in  hurling  anathemas  ?  She 
will  have  much  to  answer  for  on  that  score  ;  but 
bad  and  corrupt  as  are  some  of  her  doctrines 
and  practices,  she  is  still  entitled  to  considera- 
tion as  a  Christian  Church,  fully  as  much  so  as 
many  of  the  numerous  sects  that  ignorantly 
prate  about  their  own  virtues,  as  if  truth  and 
godliness  were  confined  almost  exclusively  to 
themselves.  Dr.  Nevin  was  blamed  for  not 
anathematizing  the  Roman  Catholics,  and  he 
did  not  deny  the  truth  of  the  accusation.  His 
charity  extended  to  all,  and  he  rejoiced  in  find- 
ing truth  anywhere ;  and  while  he  denounced 
the  errors,  he  at  the  same  time  acknowledged 
whatever  of  truth  there  was  in  the  system  of 
Romanism.  He  would  have  been  false  to  his 
high  trust,  if  he  had  taught  otherwise. 

His  answer  to  Dr.  Berg  on  this  subject  was 
complete,  satisfactory  to  all  who  were  not  blinded 
by  prejudice,  and  a  final  settler  once  for  all. 

But  there  was  another  charge.  He  was  ac-^ 
cused  of  teaching  that  Christ  is  really,  though 
spiritually,  present  in  the  Lord's  Supper.  An- 
other accusation,  the  truth  of  which  he  would 
not  deny,  but  in  his  answer  to  Dr.  Berg  fully 
admitted  that  he  so  taught.     He  here  took  occa- 


124  THE    LIFE    OF 

sion  to  2>resent  the  true  historic  Reformed  view 
of  the  Lord's  Siq^per  ;  that  it  was  not  Roman 
Catholic  (Transubstantiation),  nor  Lutheran 
(Consubstantiation,  so-called,  though  not  by  Lu- 
therans), nor  Zwinglian,  that  is,  the  memorial- 
istic  view  (though  Zwingli  was  much  nearer  the 
truth  on  this  subject  than  his  detractors  would 
admit),  but  Ccdvinistic,  which  teaches  that  the 
Lord's  Supper  is  a  real  means  or  channel  of 
grace  to  the  true  communicant ;  that  Christ  is 
really,  though  spiritually,  present  in  it,  and  that 
the  Christian  believer  receives  in  the  sacrament 
the  body  and  blood  of  Christ,  after  a  heavenly 
(  manner,  as  his  true  spiritual  meat  and  drink, 
^gain  Dr.  Nevin  held  his  ground  and  convinced 
the  Church  that  he  was  right.  He  was  at  Mer- 
cersburg  not  to  be  used  as  a  thing  of  wax,  al- 
lowing himself  to  be  shaped  and  controlled  by 
the  sentimental  theology  of  the  day,  but  to  guide 
the  grand  old  historic  Church  in  the  King's 
highway — and  he  did  it. 

This  periodical  controversy  led  to  the  prepara- 
tion by  Dr.  Nevin  of  the  work  on  that  subject, 
entitled  "  The  Mystical  Presence,"  without  any 
question  the  greatest  work  on  the  Lord's  Supper 
that  has  ever  been  written.     It  was  so  regarded 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  125 

in  England  by  its  greatest  theologians,  and  also 
in  Germany,  the  land  where  theology  and  phil- 
osophy grow  and  thrive  like  tropical  plants. 

According  to  the  popular  American  Puritanic 
idea  of  Christianity  and  practical  religion,  the 
sacraments  are  nothing  more  than  outward 
signs,  or  rej)resentations,  pictures,  of  what  can ' 
and  does  exist  without  them.  They  think  it  is 
proper  to  use  them,  but  that  they  belong  only 
to  the  necessary  outward  forms  of  religion,  and 
do  not  immediately,  only  incidentally,  affect  its 
inward  life.  Where  the  baptism  of  infimts  is 
allowed,  it  is  more  because  of  venerable  custom, 
or  of  custom  that  it  may  not  be  well  to  abolish, 
than  because  of  the  ancient  and  true  Christian 
sentiment  that  by  baptism  children,  as  well  as 
adults,  become  members  of  Christ,  that  though 
outward  and  visible,  there  is  in  it  divine  S2:)iritual 
grace,  and  that  it  seals  the  transfer  of  the  sub- 
ject from  the  realm  of  fallen  human  nature  into 
the  kingdom  of  God.  Consistently  the  Lord's 
Supper,  though  regarded  with  greater  solemnity,, 
perhaps,  is  viewed  in  the  same  way.  The  j^ar- 
ticipation  of  the  believer  in  Christ's  flesh  and; 
blood,  and  the  Scripture  terms  used  to  express; 
it,  are  regarded  as  figures  of  speech,  meaning 


126  THE    LIFE    OF 

thereby  nothing  more  than  a  proper  sph'itual 
frame  of  mind  of  one  wlio  woukl  hold  spiritnal 
fellowship  with  Christ.  That  is,  there  is  sup- 
posed to  be  nothing  in  the  sacrament  but  what 
men  put  into  it  by  whatever  state  of  mind  they 
come  to  it  ;  not  therefore  in  itself  a  divine  chan- 
nel of  grace  appointed  for  that  end,  but  simply 
a  something  superadded  as  an  indication  or  sign 
that  the  grace  is  present,  or  an  act  performed  in 
memory  of  what  Christ  did  for  men  eighteen 
centuries  ago. 

This  was  not  the  Church  doctrine  as  repre- 
sented by  the  Heidelberg  Catechism  and  other 
Reformed  confessions.  Dr.  Nevin  planted  him- 
self squarely  on  these,  and  on  the  teaching  of 
the  New  Testament,  when  he  began  to  move  his 
vigorous  pen  against  the  modern  doctrinal  inno- 
vations that  threatened  to  turn  Christianity  and 
the  Church  as  organized  by  Christ  and  center- 
[jng  in  Him,  into  a  spiritualistic  dream  or  fiction. 
His  controversy  with  Dr.  Berg,  in  which  he  was 
easily  victorious,  and  fully  sustained  by  the 
Church,  was  the  occasion,  in  part,  of  his  prepar- 
ing the  great  work,  "  The  Mystical  Presence." 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  12" 


CHAPTER   XV. 
The  Book. 


-n 


The  two  productions,  Schaffs  "  Principle  of 
Protestantism"  and  Nevin's  "  Mystical  Pres- 
ence," may  be  regarded  as  the  foundation  or  sub- 
stratum of  what  became  known  as  "  Mercers- 
burg  Theology."  In  these  were  laid  down  and 
clearly  defined  the  great  principles  of  the  Christ- 
ian religion,  which  these  learned  and  earnest 
theologians  developed  and  unfolded  as  time 
rolled  on.  In  the  "  Mystical  Presence"  Dr. 
Nevin  entered  the  inmost  sanctuary  of  Christ's 
kingdom  on  earth,  the  Holy  of  Holies  of  God's 
spiritual  temple.  For  such  is  the  position  of  the 
Lord's  Supper  in  the  spiritual  world  in  which 
Christ  lives  and  reigns.  "Holy,  holy,  holy, 
Lord  God  of  Sabaoth,"  is  the  song  of  men  and 
angels  that  fills  with  its  swelling  notes  this  inner 
sanctuary  of  our  Redeemer  God.  | 

This  book  is  called  "  A  Vindication  of  the 
Reformed  or  Calvinistic  Doctrine  of  the  Holy 
Eucharist,"  and  the  work  itself  is  a  most  thor- 


128  THE    LIFE    OF 

ough  vindication  of  its  title.  It  is  not  a  large 
work,  a  duodecimo  of  about  250  pages,  includ- 
ing over  40  pages  of  an  Introduction,  which  is 
a  free  translation  of  a  German  monograph  by 
Dr.  Ullman  of  Heidelberg,  Germany.  And  yet, 
though  many  larger  works  had  been  written  on 
the  same  general  subject,  it  is  doubtful  whether 
all  taken  together  would  compare  in  fullness 
and  value  with  this  remarkable  production.  It 
is  undoubtedly    the   classic    Avithout   a  peer  or 

^ rival  on  the  subject  to  which  it  relates. 

The  book  created  a  sensation  in  theological 
circles.  By  far  the  most  important  notices  and 
reviews  of  it  came  from  two  theolosical  head- 
quarters  — Erlangen,  in  Germany,  and  Prince- 
ton,   in    America,   by    Dr.    Ebrard    and    Dr. 

vHodge.  The  review  of  the  work  by  Dr.  Ebrard 
was  exhaustive  and  learned,  as  might  be  expected 
of  one  of  the  ablest  theologians  and  scholars  of 
Euroi3e,  and  a  full  endorsement  of  Dr.  Nevin's 
views.  The  book  was  to  him  an  agreeable  sur- 
prise, coming  from  America,  the  land  of  practi- 
cal ideas,  Yankee  notions,  and  all  the  odds  and 
ends  of  religious  belief.  Dr.  Nevin  was  at  once 
elevated  in  the  mind  of  Germany  as  the  repre- 
sentative of  its  best  thought  and  culture.    From 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  129 

henceforth  he  belonged  to  the  Okl  as  well  as  to 
the  New  World.  He  was  too  broad  and  free  in 
his  ideas  to  be  hedged  in  by  geographical  or  ec- 
clesiastical walls.  He  was  familiar  with  the  past 
and  present  in  their  relation  to  all  questions, 
whether  sacred  or  secular,  and  he  knew  how  to 
separate  truth  from  error  in  both.  He  knew 
the  state  of  theological  and  kindred  questions  of 
the  time  throughout  Christendom,  and  gathered 
them  all  within  the  comprehensive  grasp  of  his 
prodigious  mind. 

On  the  other  hand  an  unfavorable  verdict  > 
was  rendered  by  a  judge  in  the  American  Israel, 
Dr.  Charles  Hodge,  of  Princeton.  He  was  a 
leading  representative  of  the  reigning  Protestant- 
ism of  this  country,  a  man  of  high  character 
and  extensive  learning,  but  hedged  and  con- 
trolled largely  by  what  had  become  regarded  in 
America  as  the  Ultima  Thide,  or  utmost  limit  of 
Christian  science  and  knowledge,  the  modern 
theology  that  claimed  to  be  the  most  ancient,  the 
most  Biblical,  the  most  orthodox  and  evangeli- 
cal. The  "  Mystical  Presence"  did  not  meet  his 
approval,  albeit  that  it  was  professedly  a  "  vin- 
dication of  the  Reformed  and  Calvinistic  view 
of  the   Lord's   Supper."      But   the   American 


130  THE    LIFE    OF 

Presbyterian  Church,  while  maintainiiis;  and  de- 
fending  the  less  defensible  "  five  j^oints  of  Cal- 
vinism," had  about  forgotten  the  great  Reform- 
er's views  on  the  sacraments.  The  Puritanic 
inquisitorial  view  of  regeneration  and  conver- 
sion, w^ith  its  frowning  legalism,  hair-splitting- 
casuistical  conditions  of  salvation,  and  the  prac- 
tical outcome  of  it  all,  seemed  in  such  sharp 
contrast  with  the  new  book  that  Dr.  Hodge  was 
much  annoyed  by  the  threatened  disturbance  of 
the  general  peace.  There  was  a  murmur  of  dis- 
sent pretty  much  along  the  whole  line,  but  the 
mere  fact  is  all  that  needs  to  be  here  noticed. 
The  review  by  Dr.  Hodge,  however,  was  of  some 
importance,  though  on  account  of  his  deep- 
seated  predilections  he  was  not  in  proper  mind 
to  treat  the  subject  with  the  judicial  fairness  that 
would  naturally  be  expected  from  a  man  of  his 
character  and  ability.  He  attempted  to  prove 
that  Dr.  Nevin  in  his  views  on  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per had  departed  much  farther  from  the  early 
Church  and  the  Protestant  Reformation  than 
^those  whom  he  accused  of  such  departures.  But 
Dr.  Nevin  successfully  answered  the  charge  and 
worsted  his  antagonist  as  completely  as  such  a 
thing  was  ever  done  in  all  the   history  of  theo- 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  131 

logical  controversy.  He  had  thoroughly  and 
conscientiously  studied  his  subject  and  mastered 
it,  and  as  usual  made  his  position  impregnable. 
He  gained  a  complete  victory  for  Christianity 
by  thus  rescuing  from  the  domination  of  pietistic 
cant  and  false  spiritualism  the  true  apostolic  doc- 
trine of  the  holy  Eucharist,  the  very  heart  of 
Christian  life  and  worship. 

I  shall  not  attempt  to  present  anything  like  a 
review  of  the  "  Mystical  Presence"  in  this  brief 
sketch  of  Dr.  Nevin's  life,  and  will  therefore 
only  state  a  few  of  its  main  points,  in  a  general 
summing  up  of  the  argument,  with  the  hope  of 
creating  the  desire  to  procure  and  read  the  great 
work  itself.  It  is  pre-eminently  a  multum  in 
parvo,  a  body  of  divinity  containing  more  solid 
theology  than  many  a  large  and  pretentious 
theological  treatise.  It  has  been  so  regarded  by 
the  most  eminent  men  of  England,  Germany 
and  America ;  and  this  work  alone  made  the 
name  of  its  author  famous  throughout  the  world. 

What  is  the  true  historical  Reformed  doctrine 
of  the  Holy  Eucharist?  What  is  the  New  Tes- 
tament doctrine  as  represented  by  the  Reformed 
Church  ? 

In    the   first   place,    Christ    established    and 


132  THE    LIFE    OF 

organized  what  is  called  His  Cliurcb,  consisting 
of  all  who  believe  in  Him  and  have  the  sacra- 
mental seal  of  His  saving  grace,  that  is,  who 
have  been  baptized  into  Him.  This  means  a 
transfer  from  the  old  creation  in  Adam  to  the 
new  creation  in  Christ,  not  in  dramatic  repre- 
sentation or  emblem  merely,  but  in  reality. 
These  subjects  of  God's  grace  and  fatherly  good- 
ness constitute  His  family  on  earth,  and  it  is  His 
good  pleasure  that  they  be  faithful  unto  death 
and  receive  the  crown  of  life. 

The  work  of  human  redemption  was  full  and 
complete  only  when  the  Spirit  of  the  Father 
and  the  Son  had  performed  His  great  work  on 
the  day  of  Pentecost  in  the  founding  and  organ- 
ization of  the  Church.  The  giving  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  to  the  disciples  was  their  baptism  into  the 
triune  mystery  of  the  Godhead,  and  they  became 
members  of  the  Lord's  family.  The  same  day 
the  family  was  increased  from  peoj^le  of  the  old 
covenant.  These  were  added  by  the  same  bap- 
tism of  the  Spirit,  but,  in  accordance  with 
Christ's  a2:>pointment,  water  became  the  medium 
of  the  Spirit's  operation,  which  could  not  be  in 
the  first  instance,  there  being  no  human  admin- 
istrator, not  until  the  first  disciples  had  received 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN. 


138 


directly  from  heaven  the  baptism  of  Christ. 
Tlien  the  apostles,  having  been  baptized  and 
ordained  by  the  Spirit  directly  from  above,  were 
first  officially  qualified  and  authorized  to  admin- 
ister the  signs  and  seals  of  the  new  covenant  to 
those  who  sought  its  blessings. 

St.  Peter  said  to  the  men  who  inquired  what 
they  should  do  :  "  Repent  and  be  baptized,  every 
one  of  you,  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ,  for  the 
remission  of  sins,  and  ye  shall  receive  the  gift  of 
the  Holy  Ghost ;  for  the  promise  is  unto  you 
and  your  children."  Therefore,  as  in  the  words 
of  the  Nicene  Creed  :  "  We  confess  one  baptism 
for  the  remission  of  sins."  Accessions  to  a 
family  are  by  natural  birth  ;  so  also  the  fiimily 
or  Church  of  God  is  increased  by  a  new  spirit- 
ual and  heavenly  birth.  By  natural  birth 
we  are  under  the  dominion  of  sin  and  Satan, 
according  to  our  relation  to  the  first  and  sinful 
Adam  ;  by  the  new  birth  we  come  into  the 
kingdom  and  under  the  dominion  of  Christ,  the 
Second  Adam,  the  kingdom  of  divine  grace,  of 
deliverance  from  sin,  of  salvation.  The  first 
fruits  of  the  Christian  Pentecost  were  baptized 
into  Christ,  were  united  thus  to  Him  as  their 
living  head,  were  born  again,  of  water  and  the 
Spirit,  and  received  the  remission  of  their  sins. 


134  THE    LIFE    OF 

Now  these  same  disciples,  new-born  children 
of  God,  did  not  fail  to  use  the  means  of  Christ's 
appointment  for  their  growth  in  Christian  grace 
and  virtue.  "  They  continued  steadfastly  in  the 
apostles'  doctrine  and  fellowship,  and  in  the 
breaking  of  bread,  and  in  prayers."  It  is  easily 
seen  here  that  the  relation  of  baptism  to  the 
Lord's  Supper  is  that  of  birth  to  development 
or  growth.  And  there  is  as  much  reality  in  the 
one  as  in  the  other. 

The  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  soknnnly 
instituted  by  Himself,  and  always  treated  by  the 
apostles  as  the  climax  of  the  whole  Christian 
cultus,  is  surely  a  most  important  subject  for 
consideration.  It  was  the  central  feature  on  the 
birthday  of  the  Christian  Church,  and  has 
maintained  its  position  ever  since,  wherever  the 
Church  has  advanced  along  truly  catholic  and 
apostolic  lines.  Even  where  the  sacrament  is 
not  properly  estimated  or  viewed  in  its  proi)er 
relations,  it  is  still  si)oken  and  thought  of  with 
peculiar  solemnity.  Take  the  lowest  possible 
view  of  the  ordinance,  and  there  is  still  enough 
to  excite  .strong  religious  feeling,  and  call  forth 
the  spirit  of  worship  and  piety.  Regard  it  sim- 
ply as  a   memorial  of  Christ's   sufferings  and 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  135 

deatli,  and  the  words  of  institution  as  only'  a 
strong  figure  of  speech,  there  will  nevertheless 
be  a  blessing  in  it,  and  the  communicant  will 
not  go  entirely  empty  away.  But  how  much 
better  to  know  and  realize  the  whole  truth  en- 
shrined in  the  sacramental  mystery.  Why  take 
only  the  crumbs,  when  the  loaf  can  be  obtained  ? 
In  other  words,  why  not  possess  the  whole  Christ 
so  freely  offered  ? 

One  says,  the  sacrament  was  solely  designed 
to  call  up  the  slumbering  memory  to  the  fact  of 
Christ's  death  on  the  cross.  Another,  that  there 
is  in  it  a  spiritual  communion  with  Christ's  di- 
vine nature  only — as  if  Christ  could  be  divided. 
Another,  that  in  it  there  is  a  feeding  on  Christ 
in  a  high,  moral  sense,  which  partaking  of  Him, 
however,  does  not  differ  from  that  which  is 
effected  by  reading  or  hearing  His  word,  or  en- 
gaging in  other  acts  of  worship.  Another,  go- 
ing to  the  opposite  extreme,  accepts  Christ's 
words  in  all  the  literalness  of  common  every- 
day fact,  and  says  the  natural  elements  of  bread 
and  wine  are  by  the  priestly  act  of  consecration 
transmuted  into  the  very  body  and  blood  of 
Christ ;  and  that,  too,  in  the  face  of  our  Lord's 
explicit  instruction  :  "  The  Hesh  proliteth  noth- 


136  THE    LIFE    OF 

ing ;  the  words  that  I  speak  unto  you,  they  are 
spirit  and  they  are  life."  Then  another,  reject- 
ing such  gross  view  of  Christ's  presence  in  the 
Eucharist,  barely  escapes  Charybdis,  and  is  en- 
gulfed in  Scylla.  He  takes  the  words,  "  this  is 
my  body — this  is  my  blood,"  in  a  literal  sense, 
in  such  way  that  "  in  t;ie  Holy  Supper  the  true 
body  and  true  blood  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
are  truly  and  substantially  present,  and  are  dis- 
tributed with  the  bread  and  wine,  and  are  taken 
with  the  mouth  by  all  those  who  use  this  sacra- 
ment, be  they  worthy  or  unworthy,  good  or  bad, 
believers  or  unbelievers,  in  such  wise,  neverthe- 
less, as  that  believers  derive  consolation  and  life 
from  the  Supper  of  the  Lord,  l)ut  unbelievers 
take  it  unto  condemnation."  This  is  the  Lu- 
theran doctrine.  (See  Formula  of  Concord, 
Art.  YII.)  The  Keformed  doctrine  is  neither 
one  nor  any  of  these.  It  is  rational  (not  rational- 
istic) in  that  it  does  not  violate  common  sense 
nor  contradict  the  first  princi[)les  of  knowledge 
and  fact.  It  is  supra-rational  also,  in  that  it 
mediates  Christ  and  His  salvation  to  us  in  a 
manner  beyond  our  comprehension,  and  is  there- 
fore a  mystery.  The  Reformed  doctrine  is,  that 
in  the  Sacrament  believers  receive  the  true  body 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  137 

and  blood  of  Christ  after  a  spiritual  manner ; 
that  the  union  with  Christ  effected  in  baptism, 
is  now,  in  the  Holy  Sup2)er,  strengthened  by  a 
real  communication  of  Himself,  as  the  vine  com- 
municates its  own  life  and  substance  to  the 
branches.  According  to  Christ's  intercessory 
prayer :  "  Even  as  Thou,  Father,  art  in  me  and 
I  in  Thee,  that  they  also  may  be  in  us."  (John 
17:  21.) 

The  apostolic  declaration  which  precedes  the 
words  of  institution  are  alone  sufficient  to  show 
that  the  Lord's  Supper  is  the  holiest  and  most 
effectual  means  of  living  contact  of  the  believer 
with  Christ  :  "  The  cup  of  blessing  which  we 
bless,  is  it  not  a  communion  of  (or,  participation 
in)  the  blood  of  Christ?  The  bread  which  we 
break,  it  it  not  a  communion  of  (or,  participation 
in )  the  body  of  Christ  ?  seeing  that  we,  who  are 
many,  are  one  bread,  one  body  :  for  we  all  par- 
take of  the  one  bread."  (1  Cor.  10 :  16,  17. 
Kev.  Yer.) 

Now  from  this  inspired  utterance  setting  forth 
what  the  Lord's  Supper  i-eally  is — a  particij^ation 
in  the  Ijody  and  blood  of  Christ, — it  should  be 
evident  that  there  is  immeasurably  more  than 
a  mere  outward  representation  or  symbol  de- 
10 


138  THE    LIFE    OF 

signed  to  evoke  pious  memory  of  Christ's  suffer- 
ings and  death.  So  also  there  is  no  ground  here 
on  which  to  base  the  gross  literal  view  that  a 
change  takes  place  in  the  natural  elements.  It 
is  quite  sufficient  that  the  whole  sacramental 
transaction,  including  the  elements  themselves, 
becomes  the  highest  medium  of  spiritual  com- 
munion with  Christ,  as  human  and  divine,  and, 
as  such,  the  Head  of  the  Bod}^,  the  Church,  which 
cannot  have  any  part  in  Him,  unless  nourished 
by  Him  as  the  living  Bread  which  came  down 
from  heaven. 

Then  the  words  of  institution,  as  given  in  full 
by  St.  Paul  (1  Cor.  11  :  23-25),  can  be  fully 
understood  only  in  the  light  of  the  explanation 
just  quoted  from  the  preceding  chapter:  "This 
is  my  body,  which  is  for  you,"  expresses  the 
participation  of  the  communicant  in  Christ's 
body,  and  what  is  actually  done  for  Him  in  the 
sacrament ;  and  the  words,  "  Do  this  in  remem- 
brance of  me,"  defines  the  subjective  condition  of 
mind  and  heart  necessary  to  a  proper  godly 
observance  of  the  ordinance.  Both  go  together. 
To  make  all  account  of  either  one  of  the  two 
momenta  in  the  Holy  Eucharist  and  none  of  the 
other  would  destroy  the  whole  intent  and  meaning 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  139 

of  it,  as  is  done  by  formalists  on  the   one  hand 
and  by  sentimentalists  on  the  other. 

Dr.  Nevin  believed,  and  doubtless  for  the  best  I 
reason,  that  if  the  Church  would  waken  up  to  the 
solemn  importance  of  the  true  sacramental  doc- 
trine, there  would  be  a  great  gain  to  the  cause  of 
true  religion.  A  falling  away  from  the  apostolic 
idea  of  the  sacraments  as  taught  in  the  ancient 
creeds  and  in  the  Protestant  confessions  has 
proved  all  along  to  be  a  falling  away  from  Christ, 
and  a  substituting  for  Christianity  some  of  the 
most  wretched  caricatures  of  it,  either  in  the  form 
of  high-church  pedantry  or  of  loose  no-churchism 
and  frivolity.  It  was  most  opportune  therefore 
that  such  a  work  as  the  "  Mystical  Presence" 
made  its  appearance  right  in  the  heyday  of 
unsacramental  pietism,  at  the  very  time  when 
New  England  Puritanism  was  crowned  imperial 
master  of  evangelical  Protestantism.  . 

This  book  saved  the  Reformed  Church  from  the 
maelstrom  toward  which  the  American  Church 
was  rapidly  tending,  and  set  all  earnest  minds  to 
thinking,  wherever  the  book  was  read  ;  and  to- 
day the  very  headcpiarters  of  Puritanism,  if  they 
would  speak,  would  acknowledge  their  indebted- 
ness to  Dr.  Nevin  for  their  not  being   entirely 


140  THE    LIFE    OF 

swallowed  up  by  the  rationalism  of  the  age. 
This  is  an  excellent  time  for  the  study  of  this 
great  treatise.  The  age  of  i)rejudice  has  measur- 
ably passed,  and  live  men  would  be  thoroughly 
aroused  by  the  weighty  arguments  in  the  work. 
There  is  a  general  activity  in  the  religious  think- 
ing of  the  present  time,  and  tliere  are  peculiar 
dangers  to  the  cause  of  Christianity  from  scien- 
tific atheism,  which  is  becoming  bolder  every 
day,  and  if  not  met  with  the  best  weapons  of 
truth,  many  will  make  shipwreck  of  their  faith. 
I  know  of  nothing  better  than  Nevin's  "  Mystical 
Presence"  for  every  minister  of  the  Gospel,  and 
every  wide-awake  Christian  to  read  and  study 
thorouo'hlv  at  this  time.  Never  was  it  more 
needful  than  now  to  be  armed  against  the  ene- 
mies of  Christ  and  His  Church  ;  and  the  work 
that  best  exhibits  the  nature  of  Christianity  and 
the  mystery  of  the  glorious  Bridegroom  and  the 
Bride  will  ])e  the  best  weapon  to  use  against  the 
enemy  :  and  that  is,  par  excellence,  without  ques- 
tion, the  work  to  which  I  have  now  directed  the 
reader's  attention. 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  141 


CHAPTER  XVI. 
The  Mercersbiirg  Review. 

Of  the  ten  years'  war,  as  I  have  called  it, 
several  battles  had  now  been  fought,  with  victory 
complete  and  glorious  on  the  side  of  Mercers- 
burg.  But,  after  more  or  less  continual  skir- 
mishing and  bush-whacking,  about  the  middle 
of  the  decade  open  and  furious  hostilities  broke 
out  afresh  and  in  vigorous  earnest.  The  attacks 
came  from  all  directions,  from  great  and  small. 
What  was  the  matter,  anyhow  ? 

Just  this :  Dr.  Nevin  found  that  in  order  to 
do  full  justice  to  the  religious  needs  of  the  time 
he  must  have  a  better  medium  than  a  weekly 
church  paj^er  by  which  to  reach  the  centres  of 
American  theology,  and  discuss  the  important, 
questions  that  were  pressing  upon  thinking  men's 
attention.  So  in  January,  1849,  was  commenced 
the  "  Mercersburg  Review,"  which  apjDeared 
first  as  a  bi-monthly,  and  afterwards  as  a  quar- 
terly. Dr.  Nevin  was  the  prineij^al  contributor 
to  its  learned  pages.     It  was  to  be  the  medium 


142  THE    LIFE    OF 

henceforth  of  his  public  utterances  on  theological 
/  and  kindred  sul)jects.  It  became  at  once  the 
most  powerful  and  learned  periodical  in  the  land. 
A  Daniel  was  coming  to  judgment,  and  many  a 
cherished  theological  idol  was  now  weighed  in 
the  balances  and  found  wanting.  Theological 
discussion  had  elsewhere  been  largely  given  to 
questions  that  scarcely  touched  the  heart  of 
Christianity.  It  was  Predestination,  Election, 
Arminianism,  Calvinism,  Old  School  and  New 
School,  Perseverance  of  the  Saints — and  when 
united  against  Romanism  there  was  something  to 
stand  from  under.  Then  baptism  was  very  much 
discussed  by  a  lower  grade  of  religionists,  but 
only  as  to  its  mode  of  administration,  over  which 
the  most  unseemly  quarrels  were  indulged  in, 
exceeded  only  by  the  display  on  all  sides  of  the 
most  profound  ignorance  of  the  real  meaning  of 
the  sacrament  itself.  In  all  this  Dr.  Nevin  saw 
that  Christianity  as  organic  life  and  centering 
in  the  person  of  Christ,  was  scarcely  thought  of 
Christ  as  a  Substitute,  ingeniously  pre2)ared  and 
constituted  to  take  the  sinner's  place,  was  a  com- 
mon theme ;  but  Christ  as  the  Head  of  His 
mystical  body,  the  Church,  with  all  that  it  im- 
plies,   was  scarcely  mentioned,  excej^t  inciden- 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  143 

tally,  or  to  round  off  a  rhetorical  period.  The 
soul  of  Dr.  Nevin  was  stirred  within  him,  when 
he  beheld  the  motley  character  of  Christian 
belief  and  the  altars  dedicated  to  a  hundred  doc- 
trinal gods,  all  having  the  name  of  Christ,  but 
miserably  lacking  in  the  fulness  of  the  grace 
which  He  presented  in  the  mystery  of  God 
manifest  in  the  flesh,  both  in  His  own  proper 
person  and  in  His  body,  the  Church. 

Dr.  Nevin  saw  the  decadence  of  those  rich  andl 
fundamental  Christian  ideas,  which  appeared 
like  wells  of  salvation,  contained  in  the  Apostles' 
Creed — the  twelve  wells  of  Elim — the  apostolic 
fountains  of  truth,  and  all  having  their  source  in 
the  living  truth  himself,  Jesus  Christ.  He  saw 
that  denominations  of  historic  origin  treated  the 
universal  creed  of  Christendom  as  old  and  useless 
lumber,  and  not  to  be  thought  of  for  use  in  pub- 
lic worship.  Such  use  of  it  was  very  generally 
regarded  as  a  step  toward  Rome,  and  a  full  litur- 
gical service  as  all  of  Romanism  except  the  name. 
He  had  written  the  "  Mystical  Presence,"  and  he 
was  now  ready  to  supplement  it  by  propositions 
and  corollaries  which  he  had  neither  right  nor 
desire  to  suppress.  The  Creed,  which  had  1)een 
thrust  into  a  corner,  or  held  at  arms'   length  as 


144  THE    LIFE    OF 

something  not  altogether  safe,  except  at  a  safe 
distance,  was  brought  to  the  front.  Christ  the 
the  centre  and  heart  of  the  Creed  was  viewed  as 
the  sum  and  substance  of  Christianity  ;  not  the 
invisible  God  planning  and  designing  it  from  all 
eternity,  and  constructing  a  Christ  as  the  legal 
instrument  for  effecting  His  design,  but  Christ 
as  "  the  true  God  and  eternal  life,"  having  all 
power  in  heaven  and  on  earth,  and  the  true  form 
\_and  expression  of  the  eternal  Godhead.  True 
theology  was  shown  to  be  Christology,  the  three 
persons  in  the  Godhead  not  absorbed  in  the 
23erson  of  Christ,  but  Father  and  Holy  Spirit 
revealed  and  incorporated  in  His  person,  as  He 
said  to  His  disciples — "  He  that  hath  seen  me 
hath  seen  the  Father — I  am  in  the  Father  and 
the  Father  in  me."  (John  14 :  9,  10.)  The 
2)rinciple  of  Christianity  is  Christ  Himself. 

On  this  broad  and  immovable  foundation  Dr. 
Nevin  built,  and  the  Review  through  which  lie 
now  addressed  the  public  derived  its  peculiar  in- 
spiration and  life  from  that  source.  It  differed 
from  all  other  theological  Reviews  from  that  very 
fact,  namely,  that  it  was  set  for  the  defence  of  tlie 
essential,  living  principles  of  Christianity  and 
redemption,  of  the  kingdom  of  God  as  a  concrete 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  145 

constitution  centering  and  having  its  existence  in 
Christ,  and  for  true  catholicity  in  doctrine,  cultus, 
and  practical  life. 

Dr.  Nevin  may  or  may  not  have  foreseen  that 
the  Mercersburg  Review,  to  which  he  was  the 
chief  contributor,  would  be  a  declaration  of  war, 
but  such  it  was  in  fact.  High  churchism,  low 
churchism,  broad  churchism,  ultra  Protestantism 
(that  is,  Protestantism  with  a  vengeance),  Ro- 
manism, extreme  Calvinism,  and  all  other  isms 
and  theologies  described  by  St.  Paul  (Col.  2:  19) 
as  "  not  holding  fast  the  Head,  from  which  all 
the  body,  being  supplied  and  knit  together 
through  the  joints  and  bands,  increaseth  with  the 
increase  of  God" — all  these  had  to  meet  the 
shock  of  battle  from  the  guns  of  Mercersburg. 

It  was  evident  at  once  that  the  Mercersburg 
Review  would  "  give  place  in  the  way  of  subjec- 
tion, no,  not  for  an  hour"  (Gal.  2  :  5)  to  the  de- 
mands of  the  off-slidden  theologies  of  the  time. 
It  had  to  fight  its  way  against  great  odds,  but 
being  conscious  that  truth  was  on  its  side,  it 
seemed  willing  to  be  crushed  to  earth,  in  hope  of 
rising  again.  It  was  not  crushed  to  earth — so  it 
had  no  occasion  to  rise  out  of  dust  or  ashes. 

The    Review    for    the   year    1849    contained 


146  THE    LIFE    OF 

enough  matter  from  Dr.  Nevin's  pen  to  make  an 
octavo  volume  of  more  than  300  pages.  The 
articles  were  all  on  subjects  of  first  importance, 
in  defence  of  pure  Christianity,  and  were  of  the 
very  highest  order  in  every  resj)ect.  The  volume 
contained  three  articles  on  the  Apostles'  Creed ; 
a  review  of  Dr.  SchafTs  "  Principle  of  Protestant- 
ism ;"  "  Puritanism  and  the  Creed,"  in  which  he 
shows  the  deteriorating  tendency  of  unchurch- 
liness ;  "  False  Protestantism,"  a  raking  fire  at 
the  obstinate  persistence  of  modern  j^ictistic  pre- 
tense and  anti-churchism  ;  "  Kirwan's  Letters 
to  Bishop  Hughes,"  in  which  he  shows  that  it 
takes  more  than  a  Puritanic  Polemic  to  grapple 
with  a  learned  Roman  Catholic ;  "  The  Lutheran 
Confession,"  in  which  he  bids  God-s2)eed  to  the 
Lutherans  in  their  new  enterprise  of  starting  a 
Church  Keview  for  the  maintenance  of  the  true 
Lutheran  doctrines  and  customs  ;  two  articles  on 
"  The  Sect  System,"  showing  in  the  clearest 
manner  that  its  underlying  principle  is  false  and 
anti-christian,  and  in  practice  wild  and  irregu- 
lar, with  a  constant  tendency  to  run  into  every 
sort  of  excess,  away  from  the  true  idea  of  the 
Church,  and  landing  anywhere  except  at  the 
right  place ;    "  The   Liturgical    Movement,"    a 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  147 

plea  for  a  true  order  of  worsliij),  a  masterly 
argument  in  favor  of  a  liturgy  that  embraces 
the  true  idea  of  worship,  as  far  as  this  may  be 
known  by  a  thorough  and  devout  investigation 
of  all  that  pertains  to  the  subject ;  and  other 
articles  of  perhaps  equal  importance. 

The  first  volume  of  the  Mercersburg  Review 
was  a  plain  index  of  what  would  follow  in  future 
numl^ers.  The  reigning  popular  theology  was 
publicly  and  boldly  arraigned  for  defection  from 
Christianity  in  its  original  form  and  from  true 
Protestantism.  And  it  is  not  strange  at  all  that 
the  charges  preferred  against  it  were  resisted  by 
its  adherents  and  ^^romoters,  and  that  the  cry 
of  heterodoxy  and  Romanism  was  raised  against 
the  Mercersburg  Doctor.  Of  course  Dr.  Berg 
and  a  few  others  of  the  Reformed  Church  found 
new  occasion  for  dissatisfaction  and  opposition, 
and  no  doubt  sincerely  believed  that  Dr.  Nevin 
was  leading  the  Church  astray. 

But  let  us  see,  very  briefly,  what  dreadful 
heresies  he  was  promulgating  that  should  cause 
so  great  commotion  and  so  much  fear  for  the 
cause  of  evangelical  doctrine.  First,  he  had 
brought  out  the  Creed  from  its  dark  corner,  to 
which  j^opular  theology  had  consigned  it,  and 


148  THE    LIFE    OF 

plead  for  its  proper  sense  and  its  liturgical  use. 
And  as  the  Creed  occupied  the  place  of  the  heart 
in  the  Heidelberg  Catechism,  no  sensible  mem- 
ber of  the  Reformed  Church  at  least  could  find 
any  fault  there. 

He  also  wrote  much  on  the  Heidelberg  Cate- 
chism itself,  and  all  in  its  favor.  Was  he  wrong 
in  that  ? 

He  saw  that  there  were  errors  and  faults  in 
much  that  was  called  Protestant,  agreeing  neither 
with  the  oecumenical  creeds,  nor  with  the  Prot- 
estant confessions.  Was  he  wrong  in  pointing 
out  the  errors  ?  - 

He  perceived  a  widespread  sentiment  that 
Protestantism  had  no  organic  relation  to  the 
existing  Church  at  the  time  of  the  Reformation, 
and  that  it  started  de  novo  from  the  Bible.  Such 
stupid  idea  he  speedily  put  out  of  countenance. 
Was  he  not  right  ? 

When  ])edantic  High  Church  Episcopalians 
claimed  to  be  the  regular  army  and  counted  all 
other  Christians  as  nothing  but  unauthorized 
and  irresponsible  sects,  did  Dr.  Nevin  commit  a 
sin  against  evangelical  Christianity,  when  he 
brought  their  ecclesiastical  highnesses  down  from 
the  lofty  clouds  to  the  ignoble  dust  ? 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  149 

When,  on  the  other  hand,  Congregationalism 
sj^read  itself  and  claimed  to  be  by  all  odds  the 
nearest  to  the  ancient  apostolic  Church  of  any 
other  Christian  denomination,  nearest  to  it  in 
doctrine,  government,  worship  and  practice,  did 
he  do  wrong  to  waken  it  from  its  pleasant  dream 
and  expose  its  claim  as  a  delusion,  when  such 
it  was  ? 

And  when  he  showed  by  invincible  argument 
that  Pi-otestantism  is  a  normal  and  true  devel- 
opment of  the  organic  life  of  Christ's  body,  the 
Church,  was  he  playing  into  the  hands  of  the 
enemy  ?  or  was  he  showing  the  only  ground  for 
the  defence  of  the  Protestant  Reformation  ? 
Some  questions  answer  themselves. 

This  must  do  now  for  the  year  1849  ;  but  the 
reader  has  only  a  glimpse,  and  scarcely  that,  of 
Dr.  Nevin's  contributions  to  the  Review  at  that 
time.  During  the  following  year  the  subjects 
discussed  were  less  likely  to  cause  friction  among 
Protestants,  and  one  of  the  most  powerful  argu- 
ments ever  made  against  Romanism  is  contained 
in  two  articles  by  Dr.  Nevin  in  the  second  vol- 
ume of  the  Review.  They  are  entitled  '*  Brown- 
son's  Quarterly  Review."  Mr.  Brownson  was 
a  learned   Roman   Catholic  layman,  a  convert 


150  THE    LIFE    OF 

from  three  or  four  different  shades  of  religious 
belief,  and  a  foeman  worthy  -of  Dr.  Nevin's  steel. 
He  was  not  to  be  trifled  with,  and  the  Mercers- 
burg  man  did  not  attem2:)t  to  trifle  with  him. 
The  controversy  was  conducted  on  both  sides 
without  acrimony,  each  treating  the  other  with 
respect.  But  the  conflict  was  none  the  less 
earnest  and  vigorous  on  that  account.  And 
when  the  smoke  of  battle  had  passed  away,  true 
Protestantism  was  seen  to  hold  the  field,  and 
stood  like  a  stone  wall,  not  damaged  in  the  least 
by  the  missiles  from  Brownson's  Boman  bat- 
tery. It  was  said  at  the  time,  by  men  who  had 
watched  the  progress  of  the  controversy,  that 
the  hardest  blow  Bomanism  ever  received  was 
by  Dr.  Nevin.  He  had  said  some  things  that 
were  favorable  to  the  Boman  Church,  but  sim- 
ply because  there  are  some  things  in  Bomanism 
that  are  good,  and  he  was  not  the  man  to  with- 
hold the  meed  of  praise  from  anyone,  from  any 
Christian  organization,  or  from  any  system  of 
religious  faith,  so  far  as  there  was  any  just  claim 
to  it.  But  when  the  question  was  as  between 
Bomanism  and  Protestantism  as  such.  Dr.  Nevin 
did  not  hesitate  to  advocate  the  cause  of  the  lat- 
ter ;  and   he  proved  to  the  satisfaction    of  all 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  151 

whose  faith  was  not  hekl  by  Rome's  iron  rule 
that  Protestantism  was  a  true  historical  develop- 
ment of  the  apostolic  catholic  Church.  A  cer- 
tain writer  at  that  time  made  the  remark  that 
the  future  historian  in  referring  to  this  contro- 
versy would  say  :  "  There  were  giants  in  those 
days."  Protestants  of  every  name  owe  Dr.  Nevin 
a  debt  of  gratitude,  such  as  they  owe  to  no  one 
else,  for  having  vindicated  the  Protestant  Refor- 
mation from  the  Romish  charge  of  sectism  and 
schism,  and  for  having  brought  to  the  light  of 
day  the  great  principles  on  which  it  rests  secure. 
Thus  it  is  seen  why  the  second  volume  of  the 
Mercersburg  Review  represented  a  rather  quiet 
year.  The  Puritanic  Protestant  batteries  were 
silent,  or  nearly  so,  for  the  time  being.  Rome 
was  getting  hammered,  and  that  was  in  itself 
such  godly  work  that  all  past  sins  at  least  would 
be  atoned  for,  if  any  had  been  committed  by  the 
Macduff  who  laid  on  the  blows.  But,  then, 
who  knows  what  will  turn  uj)  next  ?  The  con- 
queror of  Brownson  may  appear  in  another  role, 
j^erhaps  even  come  forth  as  the  apologist  for  the 
the  triple  crowned  autocrat — who  knows  ?  Bet- 
ter not  utter  praise  too  soon,  or  at  least  not  be 
too  lavish  with  it  until  it  is  seen  and  known  to 


152  THE    LIFE    OF 

a  certainty  that  the  fight  witli  Brownson  meant 
war  to  the  knife  with  Rome,  or  whether  after 
all  it  was  only  a  little  side-show  to  divert  atten- 
tion for  a  while  from  other  designs,  and  make 
time  for  a  new  onset  on  some  more  supposed 
Protestant  fancies  and  follies.     We  shall  see. 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  153 


CHAPTER  XVII. 
The  Well  is  Deep. 

"  The  well  is  deep,"  said  the  Samaritan  woman 
to  Christ,  little  knowing  the  profound  import 
of  her  w^ords  as  applying  to  the  Man  whom  she 
addressed.  He  was  himself  the  Well  of  Life — 
the  deepest  in  the  universe,  and  therefore  inex- 
haustible. It  cannot  be  otherwise  that  Christi- 
anity also,  having  its  source  in  Him,  is  most 
profound  and  far  reaching.  Those  persons,  then, 
who  have  had  all  their  lives  but  a  su2:»erficial 
notion  of  it,  would  naturally  be  startled,  and 
even  alarmed,  at  having  their  faith  rudely  as- 
sailed, and  some  of  their  cherished  beliefs  tried 
and  declared  wanting. 

It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  even  the  cultured 
representatives  of  Puritanism  properly  under- 
stood Dr.  Xevin's  arguments  against  the  Church 
of  Home.  If  he  had  discussed  the  subject  in 
the  ordinary  style,  and  called  the  Pope  and  his 
Church  by  hard  names,  he  would  have  been 
perfectly  understood  l^y  great  and  small,  but 
11 


154  THE    LIFE    OF 

that  is  not  the  way  he  did.  It  was,  indeed, 
something  to  be  thankful  for,  on  their  part,  that 
he  at  least  in  his  own  way  opposed  the  Roman 
Church,  and  so  gave  them  reasonable  ground 
for  lioj)e  that  after  all  there  was  not  much  dan- 
ger that  he  w^ould  ever  join  himself  to  the  mys- 
tic Babylon.  But  they  were  not  en  rapport 
with  his  learned  and  philosophical  treatment  of 
the  subject,  and  so  were  not  prepared  for  his 
startling  utterances  in  the  third  volume  of  the 
Review.  Like  a  clap  of  thunder  in  a  clear  sky 
were  the  articles  on  "  Early  Christianity." 

The  articles,  three  in  number,  aimed  a*t  three 
things  :  To  bring  down  and  make  occupy  its 
proper  place,  High  Church  Episcopalianism ; 
to  scatter  the  equally  lofty  pretensions  of  its 
neighbor  at  the  opposite  pole,  Puritanism  ;  and 
to  teach  the  American  Church  some  very  useful 
lessons  in  ecclesiastical  history.  It  was  imj:)or- 
tant  that  Church  pride  and  pedantry  should 
have  a  fall — better  a  fall  in  this  workl  of  proba- 
tion and  hope  than  in  the  next  w^orld.  It  was 
equally  important  that  nasal-toned  pietism  of 
the  New  England  type  should  be  brought  down 
to  its  proper  level,  that  it  might  cease  trumpet- 
ing its  superior  righteousness  and  intelligence  in 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  155 

the  face  of  Christendom  and  the  rest  of  the 
workl.  Then  it  foUowed  that  these  two  extremes 
in  the  Protestant  world  miglit  receive  wholesome 
lessons  from  Dr.  Nevin's  historical  investiga- 
tions. In  the  end,  the  whole  object  of  the  arti- 
cles was  charitij,  which  is  the  bond  of  perfect- 
ness,  an  earnest  desire  to  benefit  his  fellow 
Christians  who  were  not  able  as  he  was  to  sound 
tne  depths  of  Christian  doctrine  and  fact.  He 
made  some  people  very  angry  by  those  articles, 
but  he  couldn't  hel]>  that;  his  business  was  to 
tell  the  truth,  no  matter  how  disagreeable  it 
might  be  to  those  people  who  thought  they  were 
the  special  custodians  of  the  religious  interests 
of  America.  Dr.  Nevin  made  it  exceedingly 
doubtful  whether  all  that  was  worth  knowing 
came  from  the  Eastern  States,  or  from  the  upper 
tendom  part  of  the  Episcopal  Church.  For  the  \ 
Episcopal  Church  as  such  he  had  great  respect, 
as  also  for  the  Congregational ;  but  when  repre- 
sentatives of  these  claimed,  each  for  his  own 
denomination,  the  exact  form  of  Christianity  as 
it  existed  in  the  early  Church  up  to  the  time  it 
was  supposed  to  have  become  corrupted,  he  could 
not  allow  the  claim  to  stand  unchallenged.  The 
three  articles  on  "  Early  Christianity,"  in  which 


156  THE    LIFE    OF 

he  showed  a  perfect  familiarity  with  history,  its 
facts  and  its  philosophy,  were  a  complete  and 
overwhelming  answer  to  such  high  pretensions. 
He  brought  out  to  the  light  of  day  the  immense 
difference  between  the  early  Church  and  either 
of  the  two  claimants  to  perfect  resemblance  to 
it.  He  showed  that  by  the  law  of  development 
such  likeness  could  not  exist.  The  true  Church 
of  Christ  is,  of  course,  always  the  same  substan- 
tially, having  always  "  one  Lord,  one  faith,  one 
baptism,"  but  different  in  form  and  expression, 
accordino-  to  a2:e  and  circumstances.  He  main- 
tained,  with  great  force  of  argument,  that  Prot- 
estantism can  never  prove  its  right  to  exist  by 
attempting  to  prove  an  immediate  moral  connec- 
tion witli  the  early  Church,  thus  leaping  over 
the  Middle  Ages  at  a  single  bound,  as  if  they 
formed  an  historical  vacuum,  so  far  at  least  as 
V^e  Church  was  concerned.  All  this  is  the 
veriest  fancy,  and  poor  at  that.  Corrupt  as  the 
Church  was  during  the  so-called  Dark  Ages,  it 
was  still  the  Church,  containing  many  excellent 
Christian  people  in  all  ranks  of  social  life.  The 
Keformation  shook  off  the  corruptions  tliat  were 
the  growth  of  centuries,  and  the  Reformed 
Churcli,  thus  relieved,  rejecting  all  tradition  not 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  lo7 

in  harmony  with  the  Word  of  God,  asserted 
itself  as  the  Church  having  come  to  full  age, 
and  therefore  to  freedom.  Its  relation  to  the 
Church  of  the  first  four  centuries,  for  instance, 
was  no  more  immediate  than  that  of  a  man  to 
an  ancestor  of  four  or  ten  centuries  back. 

Thiit  two  denominations  so  widely  different  as 
the  Episcopal  and  Congregational  should  claim 
to  be  each  an  exact  copy  of  the  Church  of  the 
first  few  centuries,  is  curious  enough,  and  shows 
that  a  wish  may,  indeed,  be  father  to  a  thought, 
but  it  shows  little  else.  Still,  Dr.  Nevin's"' 
antagonists  could  stand  all  that,  whether  they 
believed  it  or  not ;  but  when  he  asserted  that  the 
early  Church  was  more  like  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  of  to-day  than  like  either  the  E})iscopal 
or  the  Congregational,  there  was  a  howl  like 
the  Jewish  chorus  at  Capernaum  :  "  This  is  a 
hard  saying  ;  who  can  hear  it  ?"  / 

That  seemed  sufficient  to  prove  that  Dr.  Nevin 
would  soon  land  in  Rome,  where  he  could  do 
little  or  no  harm  to  the  Protestant  cause.  For, 
was  not  the  early  Church  a  model  for  all  time  ? 
If  it  was,  then  it  must  follow  that  if  the  Roman 
Church  resembles  it  more  than  does  any  Prot- 
estant denomination,  it  has  a  rightful  claim  to 
true  Catholicity,  and  to  be  the  only  true  Church. 


lo8  THE    LIFE    OF 

Now  figures  and  logic  don't  lie,  if  the  premises 
are  all  right.  But  how  about  this  syllogism  : 
All  Christian  martyrs  are  saints  ;  Jezebel  was  a 
Christian  martyr  ;  therefore  Jezebel  was  a  saint  ? 
That  is  good  and  perfectly  sound  reasoning  from 
the  premises,  which,  if  cori-ect,  can  have  only 
one  conclusion,  namely,  that  the  woman  thrown 
out  of  a  window  and  torn  to  pieces  by  dogs, 
belongs  to  the  glorious  company  of  holy  mar- 
tyrs, whose  name  should  adorn  the  calendar  of 
saints.  But  history  has  something  to  say  on 
that  point,  and  it  tells  us  that  Jezebel  was  the 
incarnation  of  wickedness  and  one  of  the  visible 
human  forms  of  Satan.  One  of  the  premises 
being  false,  the  conclusion  must  be  false.  The 
case  ])efore  us  is  not  as  bad  as  this,  and  yet  when 
the  premises  are  examined  in  the  light  of  his- 
tory and  fact,  the  conclusion  also  falls  to  the 
ground,  as  in  the  supposed  case. 

Let  us  see.  Was  the  early  Church,  after  the 
apostolic  age,  in  all  respects  the  model  for  all 
time  ?  In  some  respects  it  undoubtedly  was,  for 
that  was  the  period  of  oecumenical  Councils  and 
Creeds,  and  of  the  final  settlement  of  fundamen- 
tal Christian  doctrines.  Those  Creeds  have  come 
down  to  us  unchanged,  and  are   the  common 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  159 

bond  and  property  of  the  historical  Church  in 
all  its  branches  and  forms.  In  this  regard  Ro- 
manism and  Protestantism  are  alike  related  to 
the  early  Church  and  the  Christianity  of  that 
period.  The  Church  fathers  and  their  writings 
are  the  common  property  of  both  confessions. 
The  Christian  literature  of  that  age  is  as  eagerly 
sought  after,  read  and  studied  by  fair-minded 
Protestants  as  by  Roman  Catholics.  But,  on 
the  other  hand,  the  forms  and  modes  of  worship, 
Church  government,  customs  and  j)eculiarities 
of  the  early  Church  differed  greatly  from  mod- 
ern evangelical  Protestantism  of  every  descrip- 
tion. It  quite  naturally  bore  a  stronger  resem- 
blance to  the  Church  against  which  Protestant- 
ism rebelled  ;  for  that  Church  came  down  from 
it  by  natural  succession  and  growth,  even  though 
in  the  course  of  centuries  it  became  foul  with 
corruption  in  doctrine  and  morals.  Then,  too, 
the  doctrines  held  by  the  early  Church  were  not 
all  the  same  as  those  held  by  Protestants.  The 
germs  of  those  doctrines  which  are  peculiar  to 
the  Roman  Church  existed  at  a  very  early 
period  ;  and  before  the  close  of  what  Protestants 
generally  have  regarded  as  the  age  of  pure  and 
unadulterated  Christianity,  there  were  more  than 


160  THE    LIFE    OF 

germs ;  practices,  forms  and  doctrines,  such  as 
the  Puritanic  and  Episcopal  claimants  referred 
to  in  this  Chapter  would  utterly  repudiate. 

AVhat,  then,  was  the  matter  with  Dr.  Nevin  ? 
Why,  it  would  seem  as  if  he  did  very  wrong  in 
not  making  early  Christianity  better  than  it 
was ;  for  allowing  Romanism  to  take  root  and 
even  show  itself  at  a  very  early  period  ;  for  not 
inculcating  New  England  Puritanism  among 
the  i^eople  in  that  great  formative  period,  or  the 
stilted  notions  and  airs  of  High  Church  Episco- 
palianism.  Well,  not  that  either.  Dr.  Nevin 
happened  to  live  some  fourteen  centuries  later, 
and  so  was  not  there  to  tender  his  good  offices, 
and  could  of  course  have  no  hand  in  shaping 
the  Church.  What  he  would  have  done,  had 
he  lived  at  that  time,  his  antagonists,  the  "  Ro- 
manizing tendency"  shriekers,  could  only  have 
guessed  at.  Then  in  what  consisted  his  great 
sin  ?  AVe  have  it  noAv  :  He  refused  to  gratify 
certain  parties  by  falsifying  history.  He  could 
easily  have  done  it.  He  could  have  affirmed 
that  early  Christianity  was  a  living  and  swift 
witness  against  the  whole  system  of  Romanism  ; 
that  the  Reformation  restored  it  to  the  Churcli 
re-established  on   its  foundation,    and    tliat    its 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  161 

present  perfect  manifestation  is  to  be  found  in 
the  Congregational  or  in  the  Episcopal  Church 
— either  one,  as  you  prefer.  That  might  not 
have  suited  some  other  denominations,  but  it 
would  at  least  have  relieved  him  of  the  charge 
of  making  love  to  the  scarlet  lady,  the  Roman 
Church.  To  come  to  the  point,  Dr.  Nevin  sinned 
against  his  antagonists  by  simply  telling  the 
truth,  thus  clipping  their  wings,  by  which  they 
had  done  some  lofty  soaring,  and  wished  to  do 
more.  He  put  an  end  to  their  flights  by  put- 
ting to  use  his  thorough  knowledge  of  history. 
He  did  not  make  the  early  Church,  nor  did 
he  say  it  was  infallible,  but  more  than  hinted 
that  it  was  in  some  things  in  error ;  and  that 
after  many  centuries  it  developed,  through  the 
abiding  presence  and  guidance  of  the  Divine 
Spirit,  into  the  rejuvenated  and  advanced  form 
of  the  evangelical  Church  of  the  Keformation, 
having  shaken  off'  the  errors  of  Romanism. 

In  those  three  articles  on  "  Early  Christian- 
ity" Dr.  Nevin  showed  a  master  hand  as  a 
Church  historian,  and  historical  honesty  such  as 
is  rarely  found.  Two  things  are  to  be  noted 
here.  The  first  is,  that  Dr.  Nevin  presented 
the  facts  of  history    in    relation    to   the   early 


162  THE    LIFE    OF 

Church  without  addition  or  8ubtractiou,  and 
without  regard  to  consequences.  He  deterinined 
to  present  what  he  believed  to  be  historical 
facts,  even  if  the  logic  of  the  facts  would  sustain 
the  Konian  Church  in  its  whole  Creed,  customs 
and  cultus.  The  second  is,  that  true  Protestant- 
ism does  not  suffer  in  the  least  by  a  comparison 
with  early  Christianity,  or  with  that  of  the  apos- 
tolic age.  So  Dr.  Nevin  believed.  Had  he 
believed  otherwise,  he  would,  without  doubt, 
have  gone  over  into  the  Roman  Church.  He 
showed  his  faith  in  Protestantism  by  remaining 
and  exercising  his  ministry  in  it  to  the  end  of 
his  useful  life. 

He  was  undoubtedly  far  in  advance  of  his 
age,  and  much  of  his  writing  subjected  him  to 
the  harsh  criticism  of  men  who  could  not  sound 
the  depths  as  he  did,  nor  had  his  2^i'C)phetic 
spirit.  "  The  well  is  deej),"  and  there  are  many 
even  of  those  who  claim  to  be  teachers  who  have 
"  nothing  to  draw  with,"  except  only  from  the 
surface.  To-day  the  deep  soundings  by  Dr. 
Nevin  and  their  mighty  revelations  of  heavenly 
truth  are  better  understood,  and  the  very  terms 
he  then  used  to  express  his  great  thoughts — 
terms  which  many  regarded  with  creeping  hor- 


JOHN    \V.    NEVIN.  163 

ror — are  now  freely  employed  by  representative 
men  in  the  leading  denominations. 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  between  the  second 
and  third  articles  on  "  Early  Christianity,"  Dr. 
Nevin  pnblished  one  on  Ursinus,  the  principal 
author  of  the  Heidelberg  Catechism.  This  alone 
was  sufficient  to  prove  his  loyalty  to  Protestant- 
ism. His  high  estimate  of  the  man  and  his 
work  shows  that  he  believed  the  doctrines  as  set 
forth  in  that  symbol  of  faith. 

The  fourth  volume  of  the  Keview  opened  with 
the  third  article  on  "  Early  Christianity/'  fol- 
lowed by  one,  a  few  months  later,  on  the  Hei- 
delberg Catechism  ;  another  assurance  to  those 
who  trembled  for  the  Ark,  that  the  Doctor  had 
wonderful  sticking  qualities,  and  would  give  his 
life,  if  necessary,  for  the  genuine  princijiles  of 
Protestantism. 

Up  to  this  time  Dr.  Nevin's  contributions  to 
the  "  Mercersburg  Review"  were  fifty-one  arti- 
cles, nearly  all  on  the  deepest  and  most  impor- 
tant subjects.  The  articles  on  Cy23rian,  together 
with  those  on  "  Early  Christianity,"  furnished 
abundant  occasion  for  attacks  from  several  quar- 
ters, notably  by  Dr.  Berg  again,  who,  when  he 
found  that  the  Reformed  Church  sustained  Dr. 


164  THE    LIFE   OF 

Neviu,  and  refused  to  lieed  his  own  words  of 
warning,  concluded  to  leave  the  German  Ke- 
formed  Church  and  find  a  spiritual  home  else- 
where. He,  therefore,  said  farewell  to  his  con- 
gregation in  a  valedictory  of  sad  complaint 
against  a  Church  that  refused  his  strong  hand 
extended  through  years  to  save  her  from  the 
rock  on  which  she  was  sure  to  be  broken  to 
atoms.  So  he  departed,  and  the  Church  he  left 
behind  continued  to  flourish  and  jirosper.  From 
a  small  and  ^^opularly  unknown  body  she  has 
become  a  host  over  two  hundred  thousand 
strong,  and  a  jDOwer  in  the  land,  whose  future 
looks  brighter  and  brighter  every  day.  And 
all  this  mainly  through  the  instrumentality, 
under  God,  of  the  man  whose  gentle  and  loving 
heart,  giant  intellect  and  stupendous  learning, 
as  well  as  unique  personality,  were  freely  given 
in  her  service,  for  the  honor  and  glory  of  Christ 
and  His  Holy  Catholic  Church. 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  165 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 
A  Year  in  Carlisle. 

In  a  mere  sketch  like  this  much  of  areat 
interest  in  Dr.  Nevin's  life  must  be  passed  over. 

In  1858  he  severed  his  connection  with  Mar- 
shall College,  in  order  to  rest  from  his  severe 
labors,  at  least  for  some  time.  This  was  neces- 
sary after  so  many  years  of  intense  labor  and 
anxiety.  The  college  was  removed  to  Lancas- 
ter, its  name  having  been  changed  to  "  Frank- 
lin and  Marshall  College,"  and  is  now  one  of 
the  first-class  colleges  of  the  country.  The 
Theological  Seminary  followed  in  1871. 

The  next  year — 1854 — Dr.  Nevin  removed 
with  his  family  to  Carlisle,  Pa.,  where  he  re- 
mained about  one  year,  and  then  settled  down 
in  Lancaster,  attracted  no  doubt  by  the  college 
so  dear  to  him.  But  his  mother-in-law,  Mrs. 
Jenkins,  dying  the  same  year,  at  Windsor  Place, 
a  charming  country-seat,  it  was  arranged  that 
he  and  his  family  should  occupy  it.  They 
remained  there  two  years,  when  they   moved  to 


166  THE    LIFE    OF 

a  new  home  of  their  own  near  Lancaster,  which 
was  duly  christened  "  Gernarvon  Place,"  where 
the  Doctor  lived  during  the  remaining  eighteen 
years  of  his  life.    ' 

I  first  saw  Dr.  Nevin  in  June,  1854.  He 
spent  a  week  with  my  brother.  Rev.  Dr.  A.  H. 
Kremer,  then,  as  now,  pastor  of  the  Reformed 
church  of  Carlisle.  I  was  a  student  at  Dick- 
inson College,  and  resided  at  the  time  with  my 
brother.  The  name  of  the  erreat  and  2;ood  man 
had  been  familiar  to  me  since  I  was  in  my  eighth 
year ;  I  was  also  acquainted  with  his  life  and 
work ;  and  now  that  I  was  to  see  him  and  hear 
his  voice,  the  anticipation  was  one  of  the  most 
delightful  I  ever  enjoyed. 

It  was  a  few  days  before  the  Commencement 
week  of  Dickinson  College  when  Dr.  Nevin 
made  that  visit  to  Carlisle.  His  coming  was 
hailed  with  delight  in  learned  and  refined  cir- 
cles, and  many  in  the  lower  ranks  were  inter- 
ested. As  for  myself,  I  regarded  it  as  the  great- 
est privilege  of  my  life  to  listen  to  his  conver- 
sations on  important  subjects.  These  were  fre- 
quent ;  for  there  was  scarcely  an  hour  during 
his  week's  sojourn  among  us  that  men  of  learn- 
ing did  not  call  upon   him  and  engage   him  in 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  167 

discussions  of  the  great  questions  of  the  day. 
He  was  perfectly  at  home  in  them  all.  His  lis- 
teners were  glad  to  be  such,  and  such  only. 
Frequently  his  talks  would  become  learned  dis- 
courses, in  which  the  subject  in  hand  would 
assume  concrete,  logical  form,  perfect  in  all  its 
parts  and  radiant  in  the  light  shed  upon  it  from 
the  resources  of  his  capacious  mind.  These 
talks — O  how  I  listened  ! — were  better  than  so 
many  books  on  the  same  subjects.  The  soul 
was  lifted  up  by  them  into  hitherto  unexplored 
regions.  Truths  partially  perceived  before  were 
now  seen  in  something  of  their  reality.  Perver- 
sions of  truth,  rooted  and  grown  up  in  the  mind, 
went  out  like  demons  routed  and  driven  by 
arrows  of  light  from  his  mental  armory.  Like 
the  Queen  of  Sheba,  all  felt  that  the  half  liatl 
not  been  told  them  of  the  man  whom  they  now 
saw  and  heard. 

During  Commencement  week  Dr.  Nevin  at- 
tended all  the  exercises,  which  continued  from 
Monday  until  Thursday.  He  took  a  lively  in- 
terest in  them,  and  delighted  to  speak  approv- 
ingly of  all  that  he  saw  and  heard  which  he 
regarded  as  worthy  of  praise.  Nor  did  he  spare 
what  was  subject  to   adverse  criticism.     One  of 


lf)8  THE    LIFE    OF 

the  addresses  was  delivered  by  the  famous  blind 
preacher,  Mr.  JMilburn,  who  was  then,  as  he  is 
now,  chaplain  of  the  national  House  of  Represent- 
atives. He  was  then  young  and  at  his  best  as  an 
orator.  His  sul)ject  was  "  Young  America,"  or 
sometliing  of  that  kind,  and  his  oration  was  one 
of  the  most  brilliant  and  eloquent  I  ever  listened 
to ;  but  in  his  magnificent  periods  were  con- 
cealed, and  exhibited  too,  ideas  and  sentiments 
which  could  not  stand  the  crucial  test  of  Dr. 
Nevin's  philosophy.  I  asked  him  what  he 
thought  of  the  address.  "  As  to  the  outside," 
he  answered,  "  it  was  jierfect.  The  elocution, 
language  and  action  I  never  saw  surpassed.  He 
is  a  man  of  extraordinarv  2'ifts  of  oratory,  and 
it  was  uncommonly  pleasant  to  hear  him.  But 
many  of  his  ideas  were  abominable,  and  worse 
still,  they  permeated  and  poisoned  the  whole 
speech  and  turned  even  the  excellent  truths 
that  he  uttered  in  the  direction  of  falsehood.  If 
his  ideas  should  prevail  and  produce  their  natu- 
ral fruit,  our  American  liberties  and  institutions 
would  go  to  sticks."  Such  was  his  judgment  of 
that  eloquent  and  popular  address,  which  was 
immensely  applauded  even  by  gray-haired  men 
of  learning  who  occupied  the  stage.     They  little 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  169 

tlioiiolit  that  a  Daniel  was  there  too  and  men- 
tally  writing  "  Tekel"  at  the  same  time  that 
gold-headed  canes  beat  applause,  and  the  crowds 
below  and  in  the  galleries  were  held  captive  by 
the  orator.  Mr.  Milburn  has  since  become  much 
wiser  and  no  less  eloquent. 

It  was  a  delightful  week  to  Dr.  Nevin.  Here 
were  the  old  and  learned-looking  stone  walls  of 
the  college  buildings,  where  his  father  had  been 
a  student,  as  also  his  younger  brother,  Prof  AV. 
M.  Xevin— who  shared  with  himself  the  labors 
in  Marshall  College,  and  is  still  at  his  old  post, 
where  he  has  been  for  half  a  century  without 
interruption.  If  for  no  other  reason,  he  would 
naturally  take  a  deep  interest  therefore  in  these 
college  exercises,  similar  in  their  leading  feat- 
ures to  the  ones  at  Mercersburg. 

The  "  Union  Philosophical  Society"  of  the 
college  had  selected  Dr.  Nevin  to  serve  as  chap- 
lain at  their  anniversary  on  Tuesday  evening,  it 
being  understood  that  he,  years  before,  had  been 
elected  by  the  society  as  an  honorary  member. 
But  on  Monday  morning  it  was  discovered  that 
this  was  either  a  mistake  or  that  his  name  had 
somehow  failed  to  get  on  the  register,  and  so  the 
Unions  determined  to  make  the  matter  all  right 
12 


170  THE    LIFE    OF 

at  a  meeting  to  be  held  on  Tuesday  morning  at 
*ten  o'clock,  when  they  would  elect  him  a   mem- 
ber and    appoint   him    their   chaplain    for   tlie 
evening. 

But,  alas  for  the  numerous  projects  and 
schemes  "  'o  men  'an  mice"  that  '*  gang  aft 
aglee"  on  this  uncertain  and  vagrant  star  of 
ours !  Everybody  knows  that  college  societies 
watch  each  other  as  wakeful ly  as  two  opposing 
armies  armed  to  the  teeth  and  anxious  for  battle. 
It  so  happened  that  a  member  of  the  Belles  Let- 
tres  Society  knew  of  this  latest  of  Union  items, 
and  he  lost  no  time  in  heading  off  the  rival  of 
his  clan.  Up  to  this  moment  there  had  been  no 
question  as  to  the  ownership  of  Dr.  Nevin  by 
the  Unions,  and  the  jealousy  of  their  rivals  was 
very  poorly  concealed.  On  the  other  hand  the 
Unions  seemed  to  take  on  special  airs  of  im^Dor- 
tance,  Avhich  only  tempted  the  green-eyed  mon- 
ster to  plague  his  victims  still  more.  But  now 
there  was  a  chance  for  the  gay  and  alert  Belles 
Lettres  boys  to  humiliate  the  proud  and  digni- 
fied Unions,  who  seemed  to  regard  their  rivals 
about  as  Platonists  would  the  frivolous  Epicure- 
ans; for,  were  they  not  tlie  Union  Philosophical 
Society?  —  and    philosophers    they    would  be. 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  171 

What  place  could  there  be  for  a  man  like  Dr. 
Nevin  among  the  frisky  set  that  composed  the 
Belles  Lettres  Society  ?  So  seemed  to  think  the 
Union  sages. 

Nevertheless  that  society  had  opinions  of  its 
own  concerning  itself,  and  having  an  opportunity 
to  steal  a  march  on  the  other,  there  was  no  delay 
in  doing  it.  As  by  electricity  the  word  was 
passed  round  through  campus,  streets  and  every- 
where, to  members  to  repair  to  the  Belles  Lettres 
Hall  for  the  single  purpose  of  electing  Dr.  Xevin 
an  honorary  member  and  defeating  the  designs 
of  the  enemy. 

It  was  amusing  to  see  one  after  another,  at 
various  intervals,  from  the  green  Freshman  to 
the  grave  Senior,  pass  up  to  the  Belles  Lettres 
Hall,  each  one  holding  a  profound  secret  in  his 
breast.  Among  these,  and  acting  as  chief  drum- 
mer (the  drumming  being  all  done  in  whispers), 
was  the  most  grotesque  individual  in  the  college, 
odd  physically  and  mentally,  droll,  witty,  indif- 
ferent as  to  what  he  was  or  ever  would  be,  a 
general  favorite,  and  by  all  odds  the  smartest 
and  brainiest  fellow  in  his  class.  His  bushy  hair 
was  a  sight  to  behold.  It  came  down  in  front 
over  his  eyes  in  dark  frowning  bangs,  so  that  he 


172  thp:  life  of 

looked  like  a  wild  man  fresh  from  the  forest. 
His  gait  was  shainbliiig,  or  indescribable  rather  ; 
the  heels  of  his  boots  always  turning  outwards 
from  being  worn  off  desk-shape,  and  at  a  long- 
distance off  anyone  would  suppose  he  was  walk- 
ing on  stilts.  He  had  plenty  of  money,  yet 
dressed  without  the  slightest  regard  to  quality  in 
men's  wear,  or  to  the  tact  that  there  were  jieople 
around  who  had  some  sense  of  the  eternal  fitness 
of  things.  His  face  w^as  a  study — and  a  wonder. 
The  nose  would  pass  muster  in  good  company  ; 
but  the  upper  lip !  Any  one  seeing  him  the  first 
time  would  say  it  was  stung  by  a  hornet.  When 
he  laughed  his  countenance  and  person  presented 
an  appearance  that,  seen  once,  would  never  be 
forgotten.  He  was  the  curiosity,  as  well  as 
favorite,  of  Dickinson  College.  Yet  this  odd 
specimen  of  the  genus  homo  had  an  intellect 
that  was  able  to  grasp  and  hold  the  profound 
thoughts  of  Dr.  Nevin.  Just  the  evening 
before,  he  had  heard  him  })reach  a  po^verful  ser- 
mon in  the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  and  had 
taken  it  all  in ;  and  now  that  he  had  a  chance 
to  honor  him,  as  well  as  play  a  handsome  trick 
on  the  Unions,  he  was  in  his  glory  and  almost 
ready  to  say  :  "  Nunc  dimittis"  ! 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  173 

The  hall  was  soon  filled,  and  in  a  few  minutes 
the  work  was  done,  Dr.  Nevin  elected  an  honor- 
ary member  of  the  Belles  Lettres  Society,  and 
immediately  informed  of  the  fact.  The  society 
remained  in  session  until  the  Doctor  returned 
an  answer  accepting  the  honor. 

But  the  contest  was  not  yet  ended.  The 
Unions,  though  grievously  disappointed,  feigned 
a  provoking  indifference,  but  still  their  friends, 
the  enemy,  attributed  this  to  their  stoical  phi- 
losophy, not  dreaming  that  there  was  anything 
in  the  air.  Fortunately  for  them,  an  innocent 
Berks  county  Dutchman,  who  believed  that 
everybody  was  as  innocent  as  himself — a  good 
Union  man — boasted  to  a  Belles  Lettres  student 
that  the  Unions  were  going  to  turn  the  tables  on 
his  society,  to  be  effected  in  this  way  :  The 
archives  of  the  Union  Society  were  to  be  thor- 
oughly explored,  with  the  almost  certain  hope 
of  finding  an  old  letter  of  acceptance  by  Dr. 
Nevin,  showing  that  he  had  been  for  years  an 
honorary  member,  which  fact  would  nullify  his 
election  by  the  other  society  ;  that  there  would 
be  a  meeting  at  10  o'clock  on  Tuesday  morning, 
when,  having  discovered  the  needed  document, 
they  would  a])point  him  their  chaplain  for  the 


174  THE    LIFE    OF 

evening.  This  was  famous  news,  and  within  an 
hour  every  Belles  Lettres  was  instructed  to  be 
in  the  hall  at  9  o'clock  sharp,  on  Tuesday  morn- 
ing, for  the  purpose  of  initiatiny  the  Doctor, 
and  so  taking  him  finally  and  forever  out  of  the 
hands  of  the  enemy.  This  was  done.  A  com- 
mittee of  three  was  appointed  to  conduct  him  to 
the  hall,  where  the  mystery  of  initiation  was 
duly  performed ;  a  messenger  was  sent  to  the 
Union  Society  to  inform  it  of  vdiat  was  done — 
and  the  lively  contest  was  ended. 

The  Berks  county  Dutchman,  who  was  the 
innocent  cause  of  the  Union  loss,  was  one  of 
Nature's  true  nobility.  A  year  later  he  gradu- 
ated with  honor.  He  delivered  the  German 
oration,  which  Gov.  Pollock,  who  was  present, 
said  was  a  splendid  effort,  though  he  did  not 
understand  it.  He  no  doubt  judged  the  oration 
by  the  young  man's  appearance,  earnest  manner 
and  splendid  delivery. 

Dr.  Nevin  was  evidently  pleased  that  the  stu- 
dents of  Dickinson  College  vied  with  each  other 
in  doing  him  honor,  and  was  greatly  amused  at 
the  deft  proceedings  which  culminated  as  they 
did,  especially  as  he  saw  that  good  humor  pre- 
vailed throughout  between  the  parties  engaged 
in  the  contest. 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  175 

That  incident  showed  something  of  the  won- 
derful power  exerted  by  Dr.  Nevin  over  men. 
He  had  been  only  a  few  days  in  Carlisle,  but  he 
had  already  been  seen  and  heard  by  apj^reciative 
college  students,  who  were  deeply  impressed  by 
his  extraordinary  appearance,  wonderful  voice 
and  mighty  thoughts.  An  enthusiastic  Senior 
remarked  after  Monday  evening's  exercises,  that 
when  Dr.  Nevin  arose  to  pronounce  the  benedic- 
tion, he  seemed  to  him  more  like  a  god  than  a 
man.  Of  course  they  had  heard  of  him  before, 
but  they  now  realized  more  fully  the  real  great- 
ness of  the  man. 

After  that  discomfiture  of  the  Unions,  one  of 
them  suggested  that,  after  all,  the  Unions  did 
not  lose  so  very  much,  and  that  Dr.  Nevin  was 
no  greater  than  hundreds  of  others,  no  greater 
than  Dr.  Blank,  for  instance.  "  I  never  heard 
of  anything  very  great  that  he  ever  did,  and  I 
don't  see  why  there  should  be  such  a  furor  about 
him.  I  never  heard  of  any  books  that  he 
wrote." 

"  Then  you  never  read  or  heard  of  Nevin's 
Biblical  Antiquities,  I  suppose  ?" 

"  You  don't  say  he  is  the  author  of  that  book, 
do  you  ?" 


176  THE    LIFE    OF 

"  Of  course  lie  is  ;  who  else  ?  He  finished 
writing  it  before  he  was  twenty-five — while  he 
was  teacher  of  Hebrew  in  the  Princeton  Theo- 
logical Seminary.  Was  Dr.  Blank  a  master  of 
Hebrew  at  twenty-three  ?" 

"  No,  I  don't  know  that  he  is  acquainted  with 
Hebrew  at  all.  But  can  it  be  that  this  is  the 
same  Nevin  that  wrote  the  Biblical  Antiquities  ? 
Why,  I  read  it,  down  in  Alabama,  years  ago. 
But  is  that  all  he  wrote  ?" 

"  No,  indeed.  If  all  his  printed  writings  were 
in  book  form,  it  would  make  a  respectable  library. 
Has  Dr.  Blank  any  learned  correspondence  with 
the  great  theologians  and  scholars  of  Europe  ?" 

"Not  that  I  know  of;  Dr.  Nevin  either,  for 
that  matter ." 

"  For  that  matter,  if  you  please.  Dr.  Nevin 
has  been  in  learned  correspondence  with  the 
leading  lights  of  the  old  world — the  Wilber- 
forces  in  England,  and ." 

"  Not  the  Wilberforees.  You  don't  say  he 
corresponds  with  them  f 

"  Certainly.  Why  not  ?  He  is  greater  than 
any  of  them,  and  they  consider  it  a  rare  honor 
to  be  on  such  terms  Avith  him.  He  has  not  his 
equal  in  England.  Does  Dr.  Blank  hobnob 
with  those  British  lions  ?" 


JOHN    W.    XEVIN.  177 

"  Never  mind  Dr.  Blank.  Does  Dr.  Nevin 
know  only  theology  ?" 

'*  To  make  a  long  story  short,  I  simply  tell 
you  that  he  knows  everything.  His  mind  is  so 
comprehensive  that  it  takes  in  the  whole  domain 
of  truth.  He  holds  the  key  of  universal  knowl- 
edge." 

"  Is  he  a  linguist  ?" 

"  Yes,  he  understands  Latin,  Greek,  Hebrew, 
German,  and  perhaps  several  other  languages, 
as  well  as  his  native  English.  More  still,  he 
can  make  English  look  like  a  giant  among  pig- 
mies. The  English  of  some  of  his  writings  is 
the  wonder  of  the  age.     How  about  Dr.  Blank  ?" 

"  Let  him  go.  How  does  it  happen  that  I 
never  knew  this  before  ?  It  seems  to  me  if  he 
were  all  you  say  he  is,  I  would  have  known  it, 
or  something  of  it  at  least." 

"  Yes,  so  it  seems  to  me,  too.  If  he  belonged 
to  your  Church,  you  would  have  advertised  him 
at  every  cross-road,  but  the  Keformed  are  a  lit- 
tle slow  in  that  line  of  business.  Still,  I  think 
you  should  have  known  a  little  more  about  this 
modern  prodigy.  You  haven't  been  as  wide 
awake  as  Prof.  Godman,  who  never  saw  Dr. 
Nevin  till  now  ;  and   yet  he  knew  him  like  a 


178  THE    LIFE   OF 

book,  because  he  had  read  his  works.  That 
young  Godman  has  more  brains  and  knowledge 
than  your  Dr.  Blank  can  boast  of.  Only  think, 
he  (Blank)  asked  Dr.  Nevin  if  he  had  been 
President  of  the  college  at  Gettysburg  !  He 
likely  never  heard  of  the  great  stir  which  was 
made  in  the  theological  and  religious  world  by 
the  Mercersburg  Professor.  Why  you  and  Dr. 
Blank  allowed  all  that  controversy  to  pass  un- 
noticed, is  to  me  a  mystery.  I  wonder  if  Dr. 
Blank  knows  anything  about  Ebrard,  Schaff,  or 
Tholuck.  In  Europe  you  could  not  find  a  great 
theologian  or  philosopher  that  does  not  know 
Dr.  Nevin.  A  learned  German  traveller  in 
America  said  the  name  of  Nevin  in  learned  cir- 
cles in  Europe  was  as  familiar  as  such  theologi- 
cal landmarks  as  Krummacher  and  Neander. 
But  he  said  nothing  about  Dr.  Blank,  and  I 
suppose  he  did  not  know  of  his  existence." 

"  Well,  let  Dr.  Blank  rest  in  peace.  Bequi- 
escat  in  pace.  I  suppose  he  doesn't  bother  much 
about  such  knowledge.  But  as  for  myself  I  want 
to  know  more  about  your  great  Nevin.  If  you 
talk  by  the  book,  well  then  he  must  be  a  big 
man." 

Soon  after  this  Dr.  Nevin  moved  with  his  fam- 


JOHN  w.  np:vin.  179 

ily  to  Carlisle,  where  they  remained  about  one 
year.  During  this  time  he  frequently  preached 
in  the  Reformed  and  other  churches.  For  sev- 
eral months  he  preached  every  Sunday  evening 
in  the  Reformed  church.  The  professors  and 
students  of  the  college  frequently  heard  him 
there,  and  appreciated  very  highly  his  discourses, 
on  which  I  never  knew  them  to  pronounce  any 
but  the  most  favorable  opinions.  One  bright 
student  said  to  me  one  day  after  hearing  one  of 
the  Doctor's  most  pointed  sermons : 

"  I  don't  think  I'll  hear  Dr.  Nevin  again." 

"Why  not?" 

"  Well,  he  always  makes  me  feel  so  abominably 
mean.  Last  evening  especially  I  thought  he 
would  annihilate  me.  You  know  what  he  said 
about  the  spirit  of  martyrdom,  and  how  he  talked 
about  practical  Christianity." 

"Yes,  but  wasn't  he  right?" 

"  Of  course  he.  was — that  is  what  hurt,  and 
just  there's  the  rub.  If  it  were  not  all  true  that 
he  said,  I  would  feel  much  easier.  I  don't  think 
I  ever  heard  things  put  in  that  way  before.  I 
tell  you  he  took  pretty  much  all  the  starch  out 
of  my  religion.  I  used  to  think  I  could  jjass 
muster  on  a  low  plane  at  least ;  but  he  has  taken 
from  me  even  that  little  consolation." 


180 


THE    LIFE    OF 


"  Yet  he  told  the  truth,  as  you  admit.  That 
truth  ought  to  be  agreeable  to  you.  It  is  light 
seeking  entrance  which  you  should  not  try  to 
avoid.  Don't  you  think  you  have  special  reason 
to  hear  him  whenever  you  have  an  opportunity  ?^' 

"  Yes,  no  doubt ;  but  I  hate  to  be  shaken  up 
so.  I  tell  you,  Kremer,  the  other  preachers,  or 
many  of  them,  can  thunder  at  people  furiously 
and  produce  a  powerful  temporary  effect,  but 
there  is  nothing  permanent,  and  you  go  away 
without  making  the  aj^plication  to  your  own  self 
— and  give  it  all  to  others.  But  when  Dr.  Nevin 
preaches,  /at  least  feel  that  it  is  all  for  me,  and 
it  seems  too  much  for  me.  I  feel  as  if  I  would 
rather  not  hear  such  things." 

Nevertheless  that  student  continued  to  hear 
the  Doctor.  He  was  attracted,  so  to  speak,  by 
the  very  thing  that  repelled.  He  has  since  died, 
and  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  the  sermons 
which  had  so  often  revealed  to  him  his  real  con- 
dition were  effectual  means  to  prepare  him  for 
the  better  Avorld. 

At  Carlisle  Dr.  Nevin  met  for  the  first  time 
one  of  his  most  ardent  admirers  in  the  person  of 
Rev.  Mr.  Godman,  who  at  the  time  was  assistant 
teacher  of  languages  in  the  college,  having  taken 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  181 

the  place  temporarily  of  the  regular  assistant. 
Mr.  Goclman  was  a  man  of  about  thirty,  and 
young  as  he  was,  he  had  scarcely  a  superior  as  a 
scholar  in  the  college  faculty.  He  had  gradu- 
ated with  unusual  honor  at  the  Ohio  Wesleyan 
University,  having  never  once  failed  of  a  perfect 
recitation  during  the  whole  course.  His  learn- 
ing was  extensive,  reaching  far  beyond  the  sub- 
jects p>ursued  at  the  University.  In  theology  he 
was  at  home ;  and  he  had  the  ability  to  pursue 
it  without  subjecting  himself  to  any  denomina- 
tional strait-jacket  for  a  guide.  His  mind  was 
of  such  order  that  some  of  his  most  cherished 
preconceived  ideas  had  to  yield  to  the  logic  of 
new  investigation  and  maturer  thought.  He  was 
not  a  theological  clam  or  mummy,  but  a  pro- 
gressive student  of  sacred  things. 

He  had  several  times  occupied  the  Reformed 
pulpit  in  Carlisle,  and  the  pastor  was  much  sur- 
prised at  the  similarity  of  his  thoughts  with  much 
of  what  had  become  known  as  Mercersburg  the- 
ology. Especially  was  this  manifest  in  a  com- 
munion sermon,  in  which  Dr.  Nevin's  "  Mysti- 
cal Presence"  was  seen  all  through,  not  coj^ied 
by  any  means,  but  reproduced  extemporaneously, 
after  having  been  thoroughly  made  his  own.     It 


182  thp:  life  of 

was  after  that  service  that  the  pastor  asked  him 
where  he  got  all  his  Mercersburg  theology,  and 
his  answer  was  that  he  got  it  from  Dr.  Xevin's 
writings  in  the  "  Mercersburg  Keview"  and  the 
"  Mystical  Presence."  He  said  :  "  When  I  first 
read  that  book,  I  was  very  much  pleased  with 
it,  though  somewhat  staggered  by  some  of  its 
arguments ;  but  it  seemed  to  me  such  a  great 
work  that  I  read  the  whole  of  it  a  second  time. 
Then  I  understood  it,  I  think,  and  I  have 
adopted  its  views  as  my  own.  I  consider  it  the 
greatest  work  on  that  subject." 

That  explained  it  all.  So  when  he  heard  of 
Dr.  Nevin's  coming  to  Carlisle,  he  was  unspeak- 
ably delighted.  He  now  saw  and  heard  the 
man  whom  he  had  seen  so  often  on  the  in-inled 
page.  He  was  not  disappointed  in  him.  On 
the  contrary,  his  high  regard  for  him  was  greatly 
increased  when  he  saw  him  face  to  face ;  when 
from  his  knowledge  of  him  through  the  silent 
letter  he  came  to  personal  intercourse  and  friend- 
ship w^ith  the  great  man  liimself.  It  is  doubtful 
whether  any  of  the  Doctor's  disciples  appreciated 
him  more  than  did  that  gentle,  modest  and 
learned  young  })rofe8sor. 

One  Sunday   morning    Mr.   Godman,  in  the 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  183 

absence  of  the  pastor,  preached  in  the  Keformed 
church  when  Dr.  Nevin  was  present.  There 
was  a  slight  embarrassment  perceptible,  which 
was  greater  perhaps  than  could  be  noticed ;  for 
his  habitual  quiet  manner  concealed  any  great 
inward  disturbance,  if  there  was  any ;  and  he 
preached  without  any  apparent  labor,  while  at 
the  same  time  it  could  be  seen  that  he  realized 
the  presence  of  one  of  the  very  greatest  masters 
in  Israel.  Afterwards  Dr.  Nevin  made  this  one 
remark  in  regard  to  the  sermon  :  "  It  was  full 
of  thought."  He  entertained  a  very  high  regard 
for  Mr.  Godman  as  a  man  of  rare  worth  and 
great  promise  ;  and  while  the  Doctor  remained 
in  Carlisle,  the  young  professor  was  one  of  his 
most  welcome  and  frequent  visitors.  Like  Saul 
of  Tarsus,  he  sat  at  the  feet  of  this  greater  Ga- 
maliel, and  learned  many  a  profound  lesson  from 
his  lips. 

The  leading  citizens  of  Carlisle  had  organized 
a  monthly  lecture  course,  in  which  the  best 
home  talent  was  employed,  and  occasionally  from 
abroad.  Dr.  Nevin,  on  short  notice,  was  asked 
to  deliver  one  of  the  lectures.  His  subject  I 
have  forgotten,  and  for  some  reason  of  other  I 
did  not  hear  the  lecture ;  but  those  who  heard 


1(S4  THE    LIFE    OF 

and  under.stood  it  pronounced  it  a  matchless  pro- 
duction and  by  far  the  best  of  the  course.  A 
desk  had  been  placed,  as  usual,  on  the  j^latform 
for  the  speaker's  manuscrij^t,  but  to  the  surprise 
of  all  Dr.  Nevin  had  no  manuscript,  not  even  a 
note.  It  was  supposed  that  a  learned  lecture 
must  necessarily  be  written  out  and  read  from 
the  desk,  and  when  the  Doctor  stood  uj)  and 
spoke  without  the  aid  of  manuscript  or  notes  the 
intelligent  audience  was  taken  by  surprise ;  and 
when  he  was  done,  having  spoken  over  an  hour, 
the  surprise  was  wonder  and  delight. 

The  next  day  I  was  amused  by  a  description 
of  the  lecture  by  an  intelligent  and  enthusiastic 
citizen.  Dr.  R.,  a  promhient  mendjer  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church.  A  friend  passing  by,  the 
Doctor  incpiired  whether  he  had  heard  Dr. 
JN'evin's  lecture.  "  No,"  he  answered,  "  what 
would  have  been  the  use?  I  couldn't  have 
understood  it  at  any  rate."  "O  well,"  said  Dr. 
R.,  with  great  animation,  "  it  would  have  done 
you  good  just  to  hear  it  thunder  a  little."  That 
man  was  impressible  and  of  keen  penetration, 
able  to  comprehend  the  great  ideas  that  he  heard 
from  the  greatest  master  of  the  age,  and  his 
whole    being   was    thrilled  by   their  surpassing 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  185 

excellence  and  power.  He  even  thought  the 
personal  appearance  of  the  lecturer  and  the 
►sound  of  his  voice  were  a  sufficient  attraction. 

Mr.  Godman,  thinking  that  Dr.  Nevin  might 
possibly  not  have  a  written  address,  prepared  to 
take  notes,  and  reported  the  lecture  for  one  of 
the  town  papers.  No  one  could  have  done  this 
without  being  in  full  sympathy  with  the  speaker 
— and  Mr.  G.  was  therefore  the  man  to  give  as 
faithful  a  pen  2)icture  of  the  living  production 
as  could  be  made. 

That  was  a  good  year  for  Carlisle  ;  if  not 
specially  so,  it  was  not  because  it  had  not  in  it 
for  that  period  in  its  bright  history  a  king  of 
men,  whose  authority  was  greater  and  more  real 
than  that  of  any  crowned  monarch  of  the  Old 
World. 


13 


186  THE    LIFE    OF 


CHAPTER   XIX. 
A  Retrospect. 

Dr.  Nevin's  life  at  Mercersburg,  covering  a 
period  of  thirteen  years,  was  one  of  the  most 
fruitful  in  mental  and  scholarly  work  that  has 
ever  been  known. 

He  not  only  taught  in  the  Theological  Semi- 
nary, but  was  president  of  the  college  at  the  same 
time,  and  in  each  institution  he  performed  more 
than  one  professor's  share  of  service.  Besides 
all  this,  as  we  have  already  seen,  he  did  a  large 
amount  of  literary  work,  making  enough  printed 
matter  to  fill  half  a  dozen  large  volumes.  True 
enough,  I  could  name  authors  from  whose  pro- 
lific pens  five  or  ten  times  that  much  has  been 
turned  off  in  the  same  length  of  time  ;  but  two 
things  must  be  considered  :  one  is,  that  their  time 
was  all  their  own,  with  naught  to  interfere  ;  the 
other  is,  the  difference  in  subjects,  substance,  and 
quality.  Quantity  is  a  small  thing  as  com{)ared 
with  quality.  There  may  be  a  vast  difference 
between  bulk  and  weight.     There  is  more  weight 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  187 

in  a  single  Review  article  of  Dr.  Nevin  than  in 
many  a  large  volume.  The  amount  of  instruc- 
tion imparted  by  his  productions  is  immense. 
There  is  enough  in  them  for  the  study  of  a  life- 
time. 

His  instructions  in  Church  history,  in  the 
various  branches  of  philosophy,  and  in  almost 
every  branch  of  theology,  if  they  could  be  re- 
produced, would  make  a  library  of  vast  learning. 

To  relieve  the  necessities  of  the  college,  in  a 
time  of  financial  pressure,  he  assumed  the  addi- 
tional task  of  teaching  the  higher  mathematics. 
He  was  ready  at  any  time  to  take  charge  of  any 
department  when  there  was  a  necessity  for  it. 
All  this  showed  him  a  man  of  the  broadest  cul- 
ture, thorough  in  all  branches  of  learning,  a 
master  of  universal  knowledge.  Otherwise  he 
never  could  have  borne  up  under  such  a  weight. 
This  accounts,  more  than  anything  else,  for  the 
ability  which  he  had  of  speaking  on  short  notice, 
or  without  any  previous  notice,  on  the  most  pro- 
found subjects.  Of  course,  there  are  many  glib- 
tongued  orators  who  are  always  ready  with  a 
speech,  but  their  subjects  are  usually  of  the  pass- 
ing hour,  and  their  speeches  fre(|uently  consist  of 
wit,  flowers  of  rhetoric,   glittering  generalities, 


188  THE    LIFE    OF 

and  stale  platitudes.  But  Dr.  Neviii  was  not 
built  that  way.  He  spoke  from  the  fulness  of 
heart  and  mind,  and  many  of  his  off-hand  ad- 
dresses, if  they  had  been  taken  down  and  printed 
word  for  word  as  spoken,  would  have  made  first 
class  literature. 

He  seldom  wrote  sermons,  and  only  for  extra- 
ordinary occasions.  His  extemporaneous  sermons 
differed  but  little  from  written  productions,  except 
in  their  delivery.  In  sj)eaking  he  sometimes  hesi- 
tated for  lack  of  a  word  needed  to  give  true  ex- 
pression to  his  thought.  Those  accustomed  to 
hear  him  did  not  object  to  this,  knowing  the  cause, 
and  feeling  certain  that  in  due  time  the  great 
thought  struggling  for  expression  would  come 
forth  clothed  in  substantial  elegance  and  beauty. 
Some  men  of  immeasurably  less  learning,  instead 
of  halting,  would  fill  up  the  vacuum  with  a  string 
of  words  with  little  or  no  sense  ;  but  Dr.  Nevin 
was  not  concerned  at  all  about  the  temporary 
impression  made  upon  an  audience  by  mere  flu- 
ency of  speech.  Not  a  word  would  he  utter  at 
such  juncture  until  he  could  give  satisfactory 
form  to  his  struoirlino-  thouii^ht;    and  the  result 

or?         ~  ~ 

was  always  a  fine  work  of  art,  all  its  })arts  united 
and  fitted  together  as  a  complete  whole,  with  no 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  189 

false  episodes,  and  no  oratorical  tricks,  to  mar 
its  just  proportions.  I  once  heard  one  of  his 
admiring  students  say,  that  it  was  often  a  relief 
to  him  when  the  Doctor  would  halt  in  his  speech, 
as  it  gave  time  to  take  in  and  hold  fast  what  he 
had  already  spoken,  and  a  chance  to  keep  up 
with  him.  It  is  a  matter  of  regret  that  his 
many  sermons  and  addresses  delivered  in  this 
way  are  lost  to  the  general  public.  If  some 
beloved  disciple  of  his  could  reproduce  them,  he 
would  by  that  means  write  a  more  real  biography 
of  him  than  could  be  done  in  any  other  way. 

The  greater  part  of  Dr.  Nevin's  life  in  Mercers- 
burg  was  passed  amid  theological  conflict.  He 
could  not  look  with  favor  upon  the  drift  of  popu- 
lar thought,  and  was  not  the  man  to  keep  silent 
when  he  believed  that  false  views  of  Christianity 
were  extensively  propagated,  which  had  already 
taken  deep  root  in  the  popular  mind.  Especially 
he  saw  that  the  life  centers  of  gospel  truth  as 
expressed  in  the  Apostles'  Creed  were  disarranged 
and  thrown  into  confusion,  and  believed  in,  if  at 
all,  without  regard  to  their  proper  order  and 
unity  in  the  person  of  Christ.  The  gospel 
according  to  the  Creed  was  not  the  gospel  of 
popular  teaching.      Its   articles  were  believed. 


190  THE    LIFE    OF 

but  only  as  so  many  sejmrate  truths,  without  the 
necessary  order  and  connection  involved  in  the 
very  idea  of  a  fundamental  symbol  of  Christian 
faith.  As  a  consequence  the  Creed  was  not  used 
either  in  a  liturgical  or  a  didactic  way  in  by  far 
the  larger  part  of  the  American  Church.  The 
most  popular  part  of  the  Sunday  school  literature 
ignored  it  altogether ;  and  secretly,  if  not  02)enly, 
it  was  regarded  with  suspicion,  as  if  it  were  a 
relic  of  the  Dark  Ages  and  too  closely  related  to 
popery  to  be  handled  with  safety.  In  feet,  the- 
ology in  America  was  at  loose  ends  ;  while  at  the 
same  time  American  Puritanism  had  set  itself  up 
as  Pope,  imagining  that  it  had  sounded  the 
mighty  depths  of  Christian  theology  and  anathe- 
matizing everything  that  did  not  bow  to  its  in- 
fallible dictum. 

But  a  Daniel  had  in  due  time  come  to  judg- 
ment and  shook  to  its  foundations  the  structure 
that  was  built  largely  on  sectarian  and  anti- 
Christian  conceit.  He  was  victorious  in  every 
contest.  Under  his  tremendous  blows  every 
antagonist  went  down. 

He  did  not  strive  against  what  was  true  and 
good  in  the  reigning  theology  ;  he  attacked  the 
errors  only.     He  rebuked  the  false  tendencies  of 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  191 

the  times,  and  especially  the  frivolous  sectarian- 
ism, which  had  no  idea  of  the  Church  as  the  body 
of  Christ.  He  freely  admitted  that  there  was 
good  in  the  midst  of  the  evil,  and  true  Christian 
piety  in  spite  of  the  wide-spread  defection  from 
the  true  catholic  idea  of  Christianity  ;  but  he  saw 
clearly  that  even  the  good  and  true  which  still 
remained  would  perish,  unless  there  would  be  a 
return  to  the  ancient  faith  as  presented  in  the 
Apostles'  Creed. 

Dr.  Nevin  had  no  selfish  partisan  end  in  view. 
His  sole  object  was  to  discover  truth  and  proclaim 
it  for  the  common  benefit  of  men.  If  at  any  time 
any  denomination  of  Christians  showed  signs  of 
awakening  to  higher  and  purer  conceptions  of  the 
gospel,  he  rejoiced.  His  idea  of  Christianity  and 
the  Church  was  not  denominational.  He  pre- 
ferred the  Reformed  Church  to  any  other  because 
in  it  he  found  more  freedom  than  anywhere  else 
for  the  exercise  of  his  mind  on  the  living  ques- 
tions that  were  forced  on  his  attention,  as  well 
as  because  of  its  glorious  history,  catholicity  and 
apostolic  character.  But  he  had  no  idea  of  pro- 
claiming it  as  the  highest  conception  of  what  the 
Church  ought  to  be.  He  did  succeed  in  raising 
the  Reformed  Church  to  the  highest  plane  of 


192  THE    LIFE    OF 

Protestant  catholicity  in  this  country,  and  in  the 
world — but  others  also  shared  the  benefit,  as  was 
his  own  heartfelt  and  godly  desire. 

The  charge  of  Komanizing  made  against  him 
was  entirely  gratuitous.  When  he  found  it 
necessary  to  defend  the  Roman  Church  from  the 
innumerable  false  accusations  by  pseudo  Protes- 
tants, he  did  it  without  any  hesitation  or  reserve. 
When  he  handled  such  Protestantism  with 
severity  and  dealt  gently  with  Romanism,  he 
simply  did  what  has  always  been  considered 
honorable  and  right,  that  is,  to  soundly  thrash 
a  false  accuser,  and  sympathize  for  the  time  being 
with  the  accused.  But  on  the  other  hand,  when 
Romanism  held  up  its  head  on  high  and  mis- 
represented Protestantism,  he  made  the  hair  fly 
in  the  other  direction,  and  made  Rome  repent 
of  its  audacity  in  challenging  the  man  who  never 
knew  defeat.  It  was  not  strange  that  the  more 
enthusiastic  part  of  Romanists  prayed  hopefully 
for  the  speedy  and  complete  conversion  of  Dr. 
Nevin,  nor  was  it  strange  that  the  most  cool  and 
far-seeing  of  them  declared  that  he  was  their 
most  powerful  and  dangerous  enemy.  Tliey  could 
easily  repel  the  vulgar  attacks  made  from  all 
points  of  the  compass,  but  when  Dr.  Nevin  spoke 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  193 

— as  in  his  controversy  with  Mr.  Brownson — it 
was  something  else.  For  abont  the  first  time 
they  heard  a  man  in  defence  of  Protestantism 
without  the  usual  abuse  of  Romanism,  one  who 
did  not  argue  against  Home  simply  from  hatred 
of  it,  and  who  knew  how  to  maintain  his  own 
cause  philosophically,  historically,  and  theologi- 
cally. For  once  they  had  to  meet  a  champion 
who  could  not  be  scorned  or  waved  aside  with 
the  usual  supercilious  air.  For  once  they  were 
beaten,  like  all  others  who  attempted  to  measure 
swords  with  the  man  at  Mercersburg. 

When  he  resigned  his  position  in  the  college, 
he  thought  his  active  career  was  about  ended, 
little  dreaming  that  there  were  yet  thirty-three 
years  left  of  his  earthly  life,  and  that  most  of  these 
would  be  years  of  great  mental  activity.  After 
a  rest  of  one  year  at  Carlisle  and  several  more  at 
Windsor  Place,  his  strength  was  renewed,  and 
being  yet  in  the  prime  of  life,  he  entered  again 
upon  another  full  decade  of  service  for  God  and 
his  Church.  He  again  wielded  his  powerful 
pen,  and  his  productions  were  pronounced  by  the 
ablest  men  in  Euro2^e  the  best  and  most  import- 
ant that  came  to  them  from  the  Western  world. 
Indeed,  not  even  what  may  be  called  his  resting 


ly4  THE    LIFE    OF 

period  formed  a  vacuum  in  his  life.  Such  a 
"  nature  abhors  a  vacuum."  Absolute  rest  to 
one  of  his  kind  would  be  distressing,  and  not  to 
be  endured.  He  rested — but  at  the  same  time 
accomplished  more  for  the  Church  and  mankind 
than  many  a  man  officially  employed.  His 
words  spoken  and  written  during  that  period  of 
rest  would  alone  make  an  author  famous.  His 
sermons,  addresses,  letters  and  writings  of  that 
period  are  of  more  account  than  most  men's 
literary  works  of  a  lifetime.  And  that  was  only 
while  he  rested !  Then,  what  after  that  ? 


JOHN    W.    XEVIN.  19f) 


CHAPTER    XX. 

Gigantibus  Est  Contentio. 

If  the  reader  would  know  how  Dr.  Nevin  took 
a  recess  of  rest — a  vacation — let  him  look  up  the 
Mercersburg  Review  of  that  period,  and  he  will 
learn  that  rest  with  him  was  not  idleness.  He 
was  relieved  of  the  double  or  triple  responsibility 
of  his  former  official  position  and  its  onerous  du- 
ties, yet  he  conriuued  to  work  on  ;  and  being  free 
from  official  cares,  his  writings  were  now  char- 
acterized by  a  greater  buoyancy  of  thought  and 
expression  than  formerly.  His  former  produc- 
tions, especially  the  Review  articles,  stand  alone, 
and  always  will,  as  Nevinian  classics,  to  which 
men  will  turn,  ever  and  anon,  as  scholars  do  to  the 
literature  of  ancient  Greece  and  Rome.  If  they 
were  generally  read  and  studied  by  Christian 
teachers,  they  would  do  more  to  keep  theology 
and  the  Church  in  the  right  track  than  all  the 
multitude  of  so-called  theological  works  which 
fly  from  the  press  like  quails  from  their  shells. 
And  yet  his  later  writings  are  scarcely  less  im- 


196  THE    LIFE    OF 

portant,  as  they  are  in  some  sense  the  fruit  of 
the  former. 

From  the  time  that  he  withdrew  from  the  Col- 
lege in  1853  to  the  end  of  his  life  in  1886,  his 
literary  productions  were  great  and  numerous, 
consisting  of  published  sermons,  addresses,  essays 
and  learned  Review  articles,  besides  unpublished 
lectures  on  various  subjects  delivered  in  Frank- 
lin and  Marshall  College,  of  which  he  was  Presi- 
dent for  ten  years,  from  1866  to  1876,  having 
also  previously  given  lectures  in  the  institution 
on  the  philosophy  of  history  and  other  subjects. 

But  the  most  brilliant  performance  of  his 
post-Mercersburg  life,  as  it  seems  to  me,  was  his 
review  of  Dr.  Charles  Hodge's  Commentary  on 
St.  PauPs  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians.  Dr.  Hodge 
had  been  duly  installed  Pope  in  the  Presbyte- 
rian Church  by  his  admirers,  just  as  Dr.  Nevin 
had  been  in  the  Peformed  Church.  In  the  case 
of  each  a  sort  of  unconvened  Council  of  enthu- 
siasts had  voted  a  decree  of  infallibility  ;  and 
for  two  such  men  to  meet  on  the  field  of  theo- 
logical controversy,  was  something  sublime,  to 
say  the  least. 

It  should  be  taken  for  granted  that  any  liter- 
ary production  of  Dr.  Hodge  would  be  worthy 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  197 

of  respect  from  all  who  are  capable  of  appreci- 
ating and  recognizing  real  intellectual  ability. 
He  was  regarded  everywhere  as  one  of  the  few 
theological  giants  of  America,  and  he  represented 
the  best  and  strongest  phase  of  the  modern  Pu- 
ritanic belief.  He  was  also  a  Calvinist  of  the 
old  school,  held  strictly  to  the  "  Five  Points  ;" 
and  in  fact  he  simply  took  Calvin  straight,  bar- 
ring perhaps  his  views  on  the  sacraments,  as  Dr. 
Nevin  had,  during  the  ten  years'  war,  occasion 
to  point  out.  But  great  as  he  was,  he  was  not 
great  enough  to  cope  with  Dr.  Nevin  in  a  com- 
bat of  ideas.  He  doubtless  had  no  thought  that 
the  man  in  his  quiet  retreat  at  Windsor  Place 
would  make  an  assault  upon  the  splendid  theo- 
logical structure  he  reared  on  the  foundation  of 
a  great  apostolical  Epistle. 

In  his  Commentary  on  the  Epistle  to  the 
Ephesians,  Dr.  Hodge  proceeded  on  the  assump- 
tion, from  first  to  last,  that  the  keynote  of  the 
inspired  document  was  God's  eternal  election  of 
the  saints  and  their  certain  predestination  to 
everlasting  life.  This,  according  to  Hodge,  was 
the  ruling  thought  in  the  Epistle,  and  he  made 
it  his  text  from  which  to  prove  the  truth  of  Cal- 
vin's metaphysical  view  of  the  divine  decree  as 
pertaining  to  all  that  are  finally  saved. 


198  THE    LIFE    OF 

Dr.  Nevin  entertained  the  higliest  regard  for 
bis  friend  and  former  teacher  of  Princeton.  But 
he  had  long  outlived  his  relation  to  him  as  a 
learner ;  he  was  his  peer  in  every  respect ;  and 
in  intellect,  solid  attainments  and  logical  power 
far  his  superior.  To  say  this  is  not  to  detract 
from  any  proper  estimate  of  Dr.  Hodge's  ability 
as  theologian  and  scholar.  It  is  only  affirming 
the  extraordinary  greatness  of  Dr.  Nevin  ;  and 
his  wonderful  intellectual  power,  as  well  as  bis 
deep  spiritual  insight,  enabled  him  to  penetrate 
the  depths  of  sacred  truth  as  few  men  have  been 
able  to  do ;  so  that  no  antagonist  could  ever  [)re- 
vail  against  him.  It  was  the  same  in  this  case ; 
he  tore  Dr.  Hodge's  theory  to  shreds ;  and  when 
the  smoke  of  battle  had  {)assed  away,  there  was 
left  that  grand  book  of  the  Bible,  a  gem  however 
in  quite  a  different  setting. 

Dr.  Nevin  showed  by  reasoning  profound  and 
convincing  that  St.  Paul  had  no  such  doctrine 
in  view  as  the  unconditional  divine  election 
when  he  wrote  the  Epistle.  He  also  sliowed 
how  far  he  had  advanced  in  liis  theological 
thinking    since    he    came    into    tlie    Reformed 

I  Church.     He  evidently  had  cast  aside   the  doc- 
trine of  election  and  predestination  as  taught  in 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  199 

the  Westminster  standards.  It  is  certain  that 
he  greatly  admired  the  Heidelberg  Catechism 
for  not  putting  into  the  mouths  of  the  faithful  a 
doctrine  which  represents  God  as  a  being  to  be 
feared  rather  than  loved.  So,  instead  of  con-  ^ 
firming  the  Reformed  Church  in  the  belief  of 
the  Calvinistic  decretal  system,  he  broke  what 
bonds  there  were  of  that  kind,  and  showed  a 
better  way  by  opening  the  Scriptures  in  the 
light  of  Christ,  the  Sun  of  Kighteousness,  by 
holding  up  Christ  as  the  alpha  and  omega  of 
the  Christian  salvation,  and  not  abstract  deity 
exercising  an  arbitrary  will  in  blessing  and 
cursing,  saving  and  damning,  '*  for  His  own 
glory"(!).  According  to  unconditional  divine 
election,  the  election  is  an  end  in  itself,  the  elect 
having  salvation  as  a  certain  and  inalienable 
gift  of  God's  grace.  For  some  infinitely  wise 
reason  God  decreed  from  all  eternity  that  a  cer- 
tain number,  to  be  neither  increased  nor  dimin- 
ished, should  be  saved,  and  that  not  on  account 
of  faith  or  good  works  as  foreseen  in  them,  but 
only  ou  account  of  His  good  pleasure  ;  and  that 
for  such  elect  He  prepared  the  means  by  which 
the  salvation  was  to  be  accomplished — that  is, 
sent  His  Son  into  tlie  world  that  through  Him 


200  THE    LIFE    OF 

the  chosen  or  elect  ones  might  be  saved.  Dr. 
Hodge  maintained  in  his  Commentary  that  such 
was  the  doctrine  which  was  set  forth  in  the 
Epistle  to  the  Ephesians,  and  that  it  was  the 
golden  thread  which  ran  all  through  it. 

Dr.  Nevin  shattered  that  idol  as  comjiletely 
as  iconoclast  ever  shattered  an  idol.  He  affirmed 
without  fear  of  contradiction,  and  drew  his  argu- 
ment from  the  Word  of  God,  that  the  election 
spoken  of  in  the  Epistle  in  question  and  that  of 
Dr.  Hodge  were  two  different  things  entirely. 
The  election,  instead  of  being  an  end  in  itself, 
was  a  means  rather  to  the  great  end,  namely 
eternal  salvation.  The  elect  are  not  necessarily 
saved.  They  are  the  called  of  God,  set  apart 
from  the  world  to  His  service,  baptized  into 
Christ,  members  of  the  family  of  God,  yet  with- 
out absolute  certainty  as  to  their  successful  com- 
pletion of  the  Christian  race  and  the  final  vic- 
tory over  sin  and  Satan.  They  are,  without 
distinction,  called  saints,  children  of  God,  heirs 
of  the  promises  of  God,  because  of  their  connec- 
tion with  the  Church,  which  is  Christ's  body. 
And  yet  some  of  these  may  fall  away  and  finally 
be  lost.  Nevertheless  they  were  "  elect,"  pre- 
cious in  the  sight  of  the  Lord,  His  children  by 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  201 

adoption  and  grace.  Surely  they  were  rational 
beings,  endowed  with  freedom  of  will,  and  not 
saints  of  necessity — simply  because  they  could 
not  be  otherwise.  St.  Peter  tells  all  such  to 
make  their  calling  and  election  sure ;  so  that  it 
is  not  sure  of  itself,  and  will  not  be  unless  the 
subject  of  it  freely  and  of  his  own  will  "  works 
out  his  own  salvation  with  fear  and  trembling." 
The  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians,  as  all  the  New 
Testament  epistles,  proceeds  on  the  fact  that  all 
whom  it  addresses  are  members  of  the  Church, 
that  sacramentally  at  least  all  are  saints,  and 
therefore  are  elect.  The  word  "  ecclesia"  (church) 
itself  means  that ;  namely,  the  called,  the  elected, 
so  that  the  word  election  is  not  used  here  to 
denote  what  Calvin  means  by  God's  eternal 
decree,  effecting  the  sure  salvation  of  a  certain 
fixed  number.  Every  act  of  divine  grace  is  a 
means  for  the  accomplishment  of  some  benevo- 
lent purpose  in  men's  behalf,  and  their  complete 
salvation.  Calling,  by  the  spoken  and  written 
word  ;  baptism  ;  confirmation  ;  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per ;  these  are  the  election,  and  are  gracious 
means  to  secure  the  priceless  boon  of  eternal 
life  as  begun  here  and  continued  forever.  The 
divine  election,  in  the  mind  of  St.  Paul  when  he 
14 


202  THE    LIFE    OF 

wrote  the  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians,  was  not  that 
which  was  in  the  mind  of  Dr.  Hodge  when  he 
wrote  his  commentary  on  it.  The  Calvinistic 
decree,  with  its  limited  atonement,  its  scheme  of 
redemption  for  the  elect  only,  is  altogether  foreign 
to  the  thought  which  runs  through  the  whole 
body  of  apostolic  epistles.  The  Epistle  to  the 
Ephesians  especially  is  the  one  least  to  be  thought 
of  as  teaching  the  fatalistic  ideas  of  Calvin  on 
the  subject  of  the  divine  decrees.  The  promi- 
nent thing  in  it  is  not  Calvinistic  election  (for 
that  is  not  in  it  at  all),  but  the  Church,  or  Christ 
and  the  Church  :  "  This  is  a  great  mystery,  but 
I  speak  concerning  Christ  and  the  Church." 
(Chap.  5  :  32.)  It  is  the  mystery  of  the  marriage 
relation,  the  Bridegroom,  Christ,  and  the  Bride, 
the  Church,  being  united  as  one  flesh.  Election 
then  pertains  to  the  Church,  belongs  to  it,  and 
is  spoken  of  in  connection  with  it.  Nor  is  the 
Church  merely  instrumental  in  giving  practical 
effect  to  the  absolute  decree  from  all  eternity ; 
the  Church  is  itself  the  divine  means  by  which 
men  are  called,  and  in  which  men  are  to  make 
their  calling  and  election  sure. 

Dr.  Nevin's  review  of  the  commentary  con- 
sists of  two  articles  making  hearly  100  pages  of 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  203 

the  Mercersburg  quarterly,  and  is  no  doubt  one 
of  the  clearest  and  most  exhaustive  presentations 
of  a  most  disputed  theological  subject.  Dr.  Hodge 
never  replied  to  it.  and  for  the  excellent  reason 
that  ]ie  could  not.  That  Dr.  Nevin  had  the 
field  all  to  himself,  and  was  master  of  the  situa- 
tion, was  declared  by  an  eminent  Presbyterian 
theologian  and  professor,  and  one  of  Dr.  Hodge's 
most  devoted  friends.  It  is  nothing  to  boast 
over,  but  to  be  devoutly  thankful  for,  inasmuch 
as  until  then  no  such  satisfactory  solution  of  the 
question  concerning  the  divine  sovereignty  and 
election  had  ever  been  attempted.  And  at  the 
present  time  it  would  be  an  excellent  thing  for 
Presbyterians  to  read  and  study  closely  Dr. 
Nevin's  masterly  review  of  Dr.  Hodge's  Com- 
mentary on  the  Ephesians,  now  that  the  whole 
denomination  is  stirred  up  on  the  subject  of  the 
revision  of  the  Westminster  standards.  No  one 
interested  in  the  matter  should  fail  to  secure  that 
theological  classic.  It  should  be  reprinted  in 
separate  form  and  secured  by  every  Presbyterian 
minister  and  intelligent  layman  in  the  country. 
It  has  not  had  half  the  chance  to  do  the  execu- 
tion it  is  capable  of  doing,  and  now  is  a  good 
time  to  bring  it  out  from  its  resting  place  in  the 


204  THE    LIFE    OF 

old  numbers  of  the  Mercersburg  Review  and 
send  it  forth  on  a  most  noble  errand.  It  would 
pour  in  a  very  flood  of  light  where  there  is  now 
only  an  impression,  more  or  less  strong,  that 
some  change  is  necessary.  It  would  solidify  the 
movement  to  revise  ;  it  would  put  the  whole 
question  in  proper  form  ;  it  would  do  more  than 
make  such  verbal  chano-es  as  would  merelv  soften 
the  apparently  harsh  language  of  the  Confession ; 
it  would  eliminate,  rather,  what  new  light  has 
shown  to  be  erroneous ;  it  would  liberate  the 
conscience  from  unnecessary  bondage.  It  is 
pitiable  to  see  what  reasons  some  give  for  revis- 
ion, showing  plainly  a  weak  conception  of  the 
question  at  issue  and  the  interests  at  stake,  and 
what  arguments  are  presented  by  others  for  leav- 
ing the  Confession  intact,  bristling  as  it  does  with 
points  that  proclaim  God's  wrath  rather  than 
His  love.  As  compared  with  Dr.  Kevin's  mono- 
gram on  this  vexed  sul)ject  most  of  the  discus- 
sions on  the  present  question  of  revision  seem 
like  trifling. 

The  effect  his  great  argument  had  on  the 
Church  at  large  has  been  greater  no  doubt  than 
can  now  ])e  measured,  but  in  the  Reformed 
Churcli  it  did  immensely  to  settle  its  theology  on 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  205 

that  head.  Those  who  have  carefully  read  and 
studied  it  liave  no  special  difficulty  with  the 
doctrine  of  election,  but  see  it  now  in  the  light  of 
*'  Christ  and  His  Church,"  and  not  in  the  dark- 
ness of  God's  terrible  vengeance  on  all  except  a 
few  arbitrarily  chosen  ones,  snatched  as  brands 
from  the  fire  and  then  wrought  into  fit  subjects 
of  His  kingdom.  Dr.  Nevin  has  come  nearer  to 
reconciling  the  divine  sovereignty  with  man's 
free  agency  than  any  one  I  know  of,  at  least. 

During  this  vacation  })eriod.  Dr.  Nevin  took 
in  hand  to  bring  down  another  giant,  this  one 
being  Dr.  C.  P.  Krautli,  probably  the  ablest  the- 
ologian in  the  Lutheran  Church  of  America. 
The  two  men  were  intimate  and  mutually  admired 
friends,  and  each  sjjoke  and  wrote  of  the  other  in 
the  highest  terms  of  esteem.  But  such  friend- 
ship did  not  prevent  Dr.  Nevin  from  antagoniz- 
ing his  distinguished  friend,  when  he  believed 
that  truth  required  such  a  sacrifice.  And  truth 
did  require  it  on  a  certain  important  occasion. 
The  important  occasion  was  this  : 

Dr.  Krauth  wrote  a  book  entitled  "  The  Con- 
serative  Reformation,"  in  which  he  labored  to 
prove  that  the  only  conservative  Reformation 
was  that  headed  by   Luther,  asserting  that  the 


206  THE    LIFE    OF 

Keformation  on  the  Keformed  side  was  radical, 
one-sided,  unchurchly,  a  violent  breaking  loose 
from  the  historical  Church,  that  is,  schismatic 
and  revolutionary ;  that  the  Lutheran  was  the 
only  true  Protestant  Church,  and  that  no  other 
was  truly  catholic  and  apostolic,  though  admit- 
ting that  true  Christian  piety  might  be  main- 
tained by  individuals  elsewhere.  Such  in  brief 
was  the  position  assumed  by  a  man  who  had 
become  the  mouthpiece  of  at  least  an  important 
branch  of  the  Lutheran  Church  in  America. 
It  was  a  tremendous  undertaking  to  prove  to  the 
world  that  the  Lutheran  Church  alone  was 
worthy  of  being  called  a  Church,  that  in  fact  it 
was  the  Church,  and  all  others  claiming  such 
distinction  were  only  sects.  The  undertaking 
too  seemed  the  more  heroic  from  the  fact  that 
it  was  a  question  as  to  which  of  the  organizations 
having  the  Lutheran  name  was  really  entitled  to 
it :  The  General  Synod,  General  Council,  Mis- 
souri Conference,  or  some  other  of  the  name — 
which  ?  —  Well,  the  Lutheran  Church,  the 
Church  of  the  Augsburg  Confession ;  yes,  that 
was  it. 

Now  Dr.   Nevin,   with    his    broad,    catholic, 
unsectarian  views,  always  regarded  the  Lutheran 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  207 

Cliureli  with  great  respect,  but  lie  would  allow 
uo  narrow  or  bigoted  views  to  be  published  to 
the  world  from  any  respectable  quarter  unre- 
buked.  So  in  this  case.  It  was  during  the  civil 
war,  and  as  the  publication  of  the  Review  had 
been  for  that  reason  suspended  for  several  years, 
he  replied  to  Dr.  Krautli  through  the  weekly 
"  Messenger."  What  a  pity  the  Review  was  not 
running  then,  as  in  that  case  there  would  now  be 
bound  together  in  library  volumes  another  series 
of  Dr.  Nevin's  powerful  i^olemics,  one  of  the  most 
vigorous  counter  assaults  ever  made  on  the  field 
of  theological  battle.  He  bravely  defended  the 
Reformed  side  of  the  Reformation  and  reduced  to 
atoms  the  monstrous  assumption  that  Lutheran- 
ism  had  an  iota  of  superior  right  to  the  claim  of 
true  catholicity  over  that  of  the  Reformed 
Church.  He  drove  through  Dr.  Krauth's  book 
like  Jehu,  witli  unmerciful  logic,  and  covered 
with  confusion  the  abominable  exclusiveness, 
however  respectfully  maintained,  that  could  pre- 
tend to  be  Protestant  and  yet  ignore  or  belittle 
the  world-historical  movement  which  developed 
into  the  Reformed  Church — the  Church  that 
embraces  within  its  mighty  fold  the  most  pro- 


208  THE    LIFE    OF 

gressive,  active  and  numerous  part  of  evangelical 
Protestantism. 

Dr.  Krauth  never  made  reply.  He  was  asked 
by  one  of  his  friends  why  he  did  not ;  and  his 
honest  answer  was :  "  Dr.  Nevin's  jDOsition  is 
impregnable." 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  209 


CHAPTER   XXI. 
Concluding  Notes, 


Three-score  and  Ten. 

In  the  year  1866  Dr.  Nevin  began  another 
decade  of  resjionsible  official  life  as  President  of 
Franklin  and  Marshall  College.  For  more  than 
ten  years  previously  he  was  the  leading  figure  in 
the  liturgical  movement  in  the  Reformed  Church, 
on  which  subject  he  had  expended  much  thought 
and  learning,  and  had  been  variously  engaged  in 
literary  work  and  lecturing  in  the  college ;  and 
now  again,  at  the  age  of  sixty-three,  we  find  him 
at  the  head  of  old  Marshall  in  its  new  home  at 
Lancaster,  the  same  college  with  tiie  new  name 
of  Franklin  added  to  it. 

In  1873,  on  the  20tli  of  February,  occurred 
his  70th  birthday.  A  special  meeting  of  the 
Eastern  Synod  was  in  session  at  the  time  in  the 
First  Reformed  church,  Lancaster  (Dr.  A.  H. 
Kremer,  pastor) ,  where,  in  the  temporary  absence 
of  the  Doctor  during  one  of  its  sessions,   it  was 


210  THE    LIFE    OF 

announced  by  Prof.  W.  E.  Krebs,  that  the 
Faculty  of  the  college  and  others  had  planned  a 
surprise  for  him  in  the  foi'ni  of  a  celebration  by 
his  numerous  friends,  and  the  members  of  Synod 
were  invited  to  join  in  it.  Accordingly,  on  the 
afternoon  of  the  20th,  carriages,  omnibuses  and 
other  vehicles,  filled  with  people  who  wished  to 
honor  the  great  and  good  man,  formed  a  long 
line  and  proceeded  to  Caernarvon  Place.  The 
Doctor  was  taken  by  surprise.  Here  were 
crowded  into  several  rooms  old,  middle  aged,  and 
young,  nearly  all  liis  pupils  at  one  time  or  an- 
other, come  to  congratulate  him,  and  wish  him 
still  more  years  of  happy  usefulness  in  the  service 
of  God  and  His  Church  on  earth.  Dr.  E.  V. 
Gerhart  delivered  the  address  of  greeting  and 
congratulation,  and  then  in  the  name  of  the  fac- 
ulties and  students  presented  the  Doctor  with  a 
valuable  gold  watch. 

Dr.  Nevin's  response  to  Dr.  Gerhart's  address 
was,  of  course,  entirely  unpremeditated,  and  yet 
it  was  fit  for  the  best  print  just  as  it  was  spoken. 
It  was  carefully  and  accurately  reported,  and 
can  now  be  read  in  Dr.  Apple's  book,  in  which 
it  occupies  five  pages.  Get  the  book  and  read 
this  address  by  Dr.  Nevin  on  his  70th  birthday. 


JOHN  w.   Ni:viN.  !211 

and  learn  from  it  nuicli  of  the  great  soul   and 
great  heart  of  the  man  who  spoke  it. 

LituTgy. 

Dr.  Nevin  was  at  the  head  of  the  liturgical 
movement  in  the  Reformed  Church.  He  had 
found  the  Church  practically  without  a  liturgy 
— with  nothing  more  than  a  hand-book  for 
ministers,  to  be  used  only  by  themselves  on  sacra- 
mental and  special  occasions.  The  labors,  in 
study  and  in  writing,  which  he  performed  in 
connection  with  this  subject  were  very  great  and 
numerous,  and  resulted  in  vast  benefit  to  the 
Church.  There  ie  no  more  important  subject 
than  that  of  Christian  worship  and  cultus,  and 
should  be  well  understood.  The  forms  of  wor- 
ship should  be  in  accord  with  its  true  idea, 
whether  the  forms  be  prescribed  or  otherwise ; 
and  that  the  Church  should  have  a  good  liturgy, 
one  that  comprehends  the  whole  of  worship, 
public  and  private,  so  as  at  least  to  serve  as  a 
directory,  is  plain  enough  to  the  ordinary  mind. 
The  question  still  would  be  then  as  to  the  style 
or  plan  of  the  work,  and  this  question  caused  a 
great  commotion  in  the  Church  for  a  number  of 
years.     But  the  controversy  was  educational  and 


212  THE    LIFE    OF 

resulted  in  excellent  fruits.  The  man  or  woman 
at  the  present  time  in  the  Reformed  Church  that 
knows  as  little  about  liturgy  as  did  the  people 
generally  about  forty  years  ago,  is  certainly  to 
be  pitied.  The  conflict,  sore  as  it  was  at  times, 
only  shows  that  great  religious  questions  cannot 
be  settled  in  this  imperfect  state  of  existence 
without  a  war  of  opinions,  and  that  it  is  better 
than  j^eace  founded  on  mutual  ignorance  and 
j^rejudice.  The  results  were,  first  a  provisional 
liturgy,  which,  after  about  ten  years,  was  revised 
into  a  complete  and  artistic  Order  of  Worship,  in 
proper  form,  according  to  what  was  regarded  the 
true  idea  of  a  liturgy  for  minister  and  people. 
For  years  afterwards  this  order  of  worship  was 
accepted  and  used,  in  whole  or  in  part,  by  a 
majority  of  the  churches,  while  a  very  respectable 
minority  rejected  it,  on  account  of  certain  feat- 
ures which  they  regarded  as  in  conflict  with 
Reformed  doctrines  and  customs.  Then  some 
years  later  the  "  Peace  Movement"  was  inaugu- 
rated, and  a  commission  appointed  to  settle  the 
differences  in  the  Church,  if  possible,  and  the 
result  was  entirely  successful.  The  Liturgy  was 
again  overhauled  and  amended  so  as  to  meet  the 
general  approval  of  the  Church,  retaining  how- 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  213 

ever  the  substance  and  liturgical  principles  of 
the  original  work.  The  progress  made  by  the 
Reformed  Church,  during  the  controversial 
period  of  her  history,  in  the  intelligent  appre- 
hension of  the  div^ine  idea  of  Christian  worship, 
was  truly  great.  This  is  realized  and  felt  in  our 
churches  generally,  as  manifested  in  sacred  song, 
observance  of  the  Church  festivals  and  the 
Christian  year,  in  church  architecture  and  furni- 
ture, and  most  especially  in  the  character  of  the 
free  prayers  offered  in  public  by  the  ministry. 
The  Reformed  Church  is  on  the  right  road  to  the 
best  possible  standard  in  the  matter  of  cultus, 
and  too  far  advanced  ever  to  turn  back. 

In  all  this  movement  Dr.  Nevin  took  a  leading 
part.  A  most  devout  and  godly  man  himself, 
his  devotional  spirit  was  impressed  on  the  litur- 
gical work,  which  has  for  a  generation  directed 
the  public  services  in  the  Reformed  Church. 

Tercentenary  Celebration. 

In  January,  1863,  the  three  hundredth  anni- 
versary of  the  adoption  of  the  Heidelberg  Cate- 
chism was  celebrated  by  a  general  convention  of 
the  Reformed  Church  in  the  United  States,  held 
in  the  Race  Street  Reformed  church   in  Phila- 


214  THE    LIFE    OF 

del})hia  (Dr.  J.  H.  A.  Bomberger,  pastor).  Dr. 
Nevin  was  chosen  president  of  the  convention. 
The  literary  fruits  of  that  great  gathering  of 
representatives  of  tlie  Church  are  contained  in 
two  vohimes :  The  Tercentenary  Monument, 
consisting  of  the  proceedings  of  the  body,  essays 
and  addresses  by  leading  men  in  the  Church, 
and  the  communion  discourse  of  Dr.  Nevin,  on 
the  "  Undying  Life  in  Christ"  -  also  the  ojiening 
sermon  by  Dr.  S.  E..  Fisher ;  and  the  tercente- 
nary edition  of  the  ELeidelberg  Catechism,  in 
German  and  Latin,  and  a  new  translation  in 
English,  with  an  elaborate  introduction  by  Dr. 
Nevin  which  makes  about  half  the  volume.  This 
and  the  sermon  are  of  uncommon  merit  and 
value — like  everything  else  that  came  from  bis 
facile  pen  and  wonderful  mind.  Here  is  another 
evidence  that  he  was  true  to  the  principles  of  the 
Protestant  Reformation,  apprehended  as  these 
were  by  a  mind  that  was  free  from  all  i)artisan 
bias. 

The  Vatican  Council. 

That  was  quite  a  different  convocation  from 
the  one  just  S2:)oken  of  It  was  a  council  of 
Roman  Catholic  bishops  at  the  Vatican  in  Rome, 
called  together  by  the  Pope  for  the  express  pur- 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  215 

pose  of  declaring  him  infallible  in  his  official 
character.  The  decree  of  infallibility  having 
been  promulgated  by  the  Pope,  Dr.  Nevin 
treated  the  subject  in  an  exhaustive  article  in 
the  Review.  In  his  articles  on  "  Early  Chris- 
tianity," twenty  years  previous  to  this  Romish 
folly,  he  had  created  a  flutter  in  some  quarters 
by  assertions  in  which  Rome  seemed  to  be  painted 
in  colors  quite  too  fair.  But  he  had  succeeded, 
in  due  time,  in  convincing  reasonable  people  that 
some  things  could  and  ought  to  be  said  about 
the  Roman  Church  not  included  in  the  black 
list  of  hard  names.  Besides,  the  subject  under 
discussion  at  that  period  was  not  the  question 
about  papal  infallibility  ;  it  was  quite  different, 
and  related  to  matters  in  which  that  Church 
appeared,  by  comparison,  to  considerable  advan- 
tage. Now,  however,  that  same  Church  lays 
herself  open  to  a  new  and  serious  objection  by 
announcing  to  the  world  a  new  dogma,  or  pro- 
mulgating an  old  one,  and  hurling  anathemas 
at  the  heads  of  all  who  refuse  to  accept  it  as  gospel. 
It  was  a  challenge,  and  Dr.  Nevin  felt  it  to  be 
his  duty  to  answer  back  and  expose  the  fallacy 
and  downright  blasphemy  involved  in  the  mon- 
strous claim  of  the  Church  of  Rome  in  the  person 
of  its  visible  head. 


216  THE    LIFE    OF 

The  decree  of  the  Vatican  Council  was  a  fruit- 
ful and  lively  theme  for  all  sorts  of  writers.  For 
a  considerable  time  the  religious  press  especially 
teemed  with  observations,  both  wise  and  other- 
wise, on  the  big  thing  ;  and  in  most,  if  not  all, 
the  Protestant  quarterlies  there  were  labored 
and  learned  articles  on  the  subject,  writted  by 
well  known  representative  men.  But  I  venture 
the  assertion,  without  the  least  hesitation,  that 
the  presentation  of  the  case  by  Dr.  Nevin 
was  worth  more  than  all  the  rest  put  together ; 
that  it  dealt  more  philosophically  and  theologi- 
cally with  the  question,  and  did  more  execution, 
than  all  other  efforts  in  that  direction  combined. 
He  left  no  stone  unturned,  nor  did  he  leave  a 
foundation  of  sand  for  papal  infallibility  to  rest 
upon. 

It  was  a  liappy  resort,  or  loop-hole,  for  Ro- 
manists to  say  that  infallibility  pertained  to  the 
Pope  only  in  his  official  character,  in  this  way 
explaining  how  certain  ungodly  and  even  infidel 
popes  could  and  did  always  speak  from  the 
pontifical  throne  without  error.  But  Dr.  Nevin 
exposed  that  figment  in  all  its  superfluity  of 
unrighteousness,  and  showed  the  monstrous  ab- 
surdity and  wickedness  of  the  notion,  that  official 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  217 

infallibility  can  be,  and  is  in  its  own  nature, 
entirely  separate  from  personal  holiness  ;  that 
the  Pope  is  therefore  a  sort  of  Balaam,  who,  as  a 
mere  instrument  in  the  divine  hands,  inust  bless, 
and  mud  curse,  nolens  volens.  Dr.  Nevin's 
arguments  were  not  of  the  usual  kind,  the  kind 
that  Romanists  sneer  at  because  of  their  inherent 
weakness ;  but  if  any  Romanist  sneered  at  Dr. 
Nevin's  crushing  argument  against  the  new 
dogma,  it  was  like  whistling  to  keep  up  failing 

Dr.  JVevin's  Epistle. 

That  is  a  word  of  deep  and  precious  import 
which  St.  Paul  addressed  to  the  Corinthian 
Church  :  "  Ye  are  our  epistle,  written  in  our 
hearts,  known  and  read  of  all  men."  (2  Cor. 
3:  2.) 

The  truly  apostolic  man,  whose  life  is  here 
faintly  sketched,  had  also  a  living  epistle,  living 
now,  and  will  live  successively  on,  doubtless, 
until  the  Master  whom  he  served  will  say  :  "  It 
is  done."  At  his  feet  sat  the  men  who  to-day 
are  masters  in  Israel,  the  educators  of  our  vigor- 
ous young  men  and  women.  Where  are  they 
not  ?  Our  noble  institutions  of  learning  at  Lan- 
caster, which  until  recently  rejoiced  in  the  light 
15 


218  THE    LIFE    OF 

which  still  shed  its  soft  evening  radiance  around 
them,  are  chiefly  directed  by  his  disciples,  who 
are  animated  by  his  spirit,  and,  robed  in  his 
mantle,  carry  on  his  work,  looking  to  the  end  on 
which  his  eye  was  ever  fixed  :  "  Jesus  Christ,  the 
same  yesterday,  to-day  and  forever."  In  the  in- 
stitutions at  Tiffin  the  same  epistle  is  known  and 
read.  For  forty  years  their  instructors  were 
chiefly  men  whose  greatest  lessons  were  learned 
from  him.  The  same  is  true  of  Ursinus  Col- 
lege, Catawba  College,  Calvin  Institute,  Sheboy- 
gan Mission  House,  Palatinate  College,  Allen- 
town  Female  College,  Clarion  Collegiate  Insti- 
tute, Juniata  Collegiate  Institute,  and  others. 
They  are  his  epistle.  The  great  majority  of 
Reformed  ministers  of  the  Gospel,  ministering 
to  more  than  three  hundred  thousand  souls,  are 
his  epistle  well  known  and  read.  It  is  doubtful 
whether  any  other  man  of  modern  times  has 
such  a  well  written  epistle,  and  so  unquestion- 
ably his  own. 

Personal. 

In  outward  appearance  Dr.  Nevin  was  truly 
remarkable.  I  wish  I  could  give  a  faithful  pen 
picture  of  the  man,  as  his  image  stands  in  its 
singular  majesty  before  my  mental  vision.    Years 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  219 

before  I  saw  him,  his  portrait,  a  steel  engraving, 
made  from  an  excellent  painting,  was  familiar 
to  me.  The  wonderful  forehead,  eyes,  mouth, 
hair — the  whole  contour  of  head  and  face,  the 
expression,  all — I  never  saw  human  form  like 
it.  The  folded  arms,  so  natural  and  graceful ; 
the  attire,  so  suitable  that  it  could  not  be  con- 
sistently otherwise ;  the  whole  person,  so  far  as 
shown  in  the  picture — aye,  what  a  man  !  The 
picture  w^as  itself  a  revelation  of  a  wonderful 
living  original.  I  once  saw  two  ministers  (not 
Reformed)  in  a  room  where  this  picture  was 
hauijino;  over  the  mantel.  One  of  them,  an  elder- 
ly  gentleman,  remarked  to  the  other :  "  What 
a  brilliant  man  that  would  have  made,  if  he 
would  have  had  early  training !"  How  my 
young  blood  rose !  You  stupid !  I  thought  to 
myself;  you  admire  that  great  picture,  but  don't 
know  that  its  original  knew  more  in  his  "  early" 
days  than  you,  old  man,  ever  dreamed  of  How 
I  felt  like  telling  him  so,  or  giving  him  a  shake. 
Still,  he  meant  well,  and  knew  no  better.  He 
was  far  more  excusable  than  many  of  Dr.  Nev- 
in's  would-be  critics. 

An  illustration  of  the  effect  of  his  personal 
presence  on  appreciative  minds  occurred  in  New 


220  THE    LIFE    OF 

York  at  a  general  meeting  of  the  World's  Evan- 
gelical Alliance.  A  photographic  artist,  after 
scanning  the  faces  and  pliysiques  of  the  eminent 
men  from  all  parts  of  the  globe,  decided  that 
Dr.  Nevin  presented  the  most  intellectual  and 
distinguished  appearance  of  them  all.  He  wished 
to  photograph  the  dignified  group,  and  waited 
until  Dr.  Nevin  stood  upon  the  platform  to  read 
his  essay,  so  that  he  might  have  him  as  the  most 
prominent  and  central  figure  in  the  picture.  At 
this  great  convocation  were  present  many  from  the 
old  world,  with  whom  he  had  enjoyed  a  literary 
acquaintance,  among  whom  was  the  eminent  Dr. 
Dorner,  of  Berlin,  who,  flushed  with  enthusiasm 
and  delight,  exclaimed  to  some  of  his  friends : 
"  Ich  habe  den  Nevin  gesehen !"  (I  have  seen 
Nevin  !) 

I  will  not  attempt  further  to  describe  the  exter- 
nal appearance  of  that  remarkable  man,  whose 
outward  form  seemed  to  be  an  almost  perfect  im- 
age of  the  great  personality  which  it  enshrined. 

A  True  Chinstian. 

It  was  truly  said  of  Washington  that  tlie 
greatest  victory  he  ever  gained  was  wdieu  he 
conquered   himself.      Dr.  Nevin 's   greatness  of 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  221 

intellect  and  immense  attainments  in  knowledge 
were  truly  wonderful.  James  Buchanan  said 
he  believed  him  to  be  the  greatest  man  in  Amer- 
ica, if  not  in  the  world.  And  yet  he  was  great- 
est HI  this,  that  he  sat  humbly  at  the  feet  of 
Jesus  and  learned  of  Him,  counting  himself  and 
all  his  attainments  as  nothing  in  comparison 
with  the  excellency  of  the  knowledge  of  Jesus 
Christ  his  Lord.  He  scarcely  realized  how 
great  he  was  intellectually.  In  all  his  great 
literary  efforts  there  is  not  the  least  sign  of 
intentional  parade  of  learning.  His  eminent 
greatness  was  scarcely  equal  to  his  childlike  sub- 
mission in  faith  to  his  adorable  Master,  whose 
servant  he  was  and  delighted  to  be.  He  sought 
only  to  know  and  expound  the  truth  of  God  as 
he  apprehended  it,  and  was  concerned  only  that 
the  truth  should  prevail.  He  was  not  governed 
in  his  reasoning  and  teaching  by  the  shibboleths 
of  party  or  popular  demand,  but  by  the  Sj^irit 
of  truth — the  Comforter,  in  whose  abiding  pres- 
ence in  the  Church  he  firmly  believed.  His 
daily  invocation  seemed  to  be :  "  Ve7ii,  O^eator 
/Spiritus/'  that  his  soul  might  be  enlightened 
with  celestial  fire,  and  filled  with  the  graces 
which  are  the  gifts  of  God  to  the  faithful.      Cor 


222  THE    LIFE    OF 

facit  theologum — not  the  brain,  but  the  heart 
makes  the  theologian,  the  heart  full  of  childlike 
faith  in  God  and  His  word, — and  all  else,  j>ow- 
ers  and  acquisitions  of  the  mind  and  earthly 
possessions  consecrated  as  a  holy  offering  to  the 
Lord. 

Such  was  Dr.  Nevin,  "  full  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
and  of  faith,"  and  so  using  his  abundant  talents 
that,  doubtless,  the  Master,  when  He  shall  come 
to  reckon  with  His  servants,  will  say  to  him  : 
"  Well  done !" 

His  Place  in  History. 

There  have  been  and  are  men  whose  names 
are  familiar  among  all  classes  of  people.  It  may 
be  on  account  of  some  one  ^peculiarity  alone  in 
the  person.  Certain  shallow  politicians  are  bet- 
ter known  than  many  a  wise  statesman.  Cer- 
tain mountebank  evangelists  are  more  heard  of 
and  written  about  than  the  most  able  and  faith- 
ful pastors.  Their  smart  sermons  are  peddled 
on  street  corners  and  on  railroad  trains.  What 
place  will  they  have  in  history  ?  No  place  at 
all,  for  they  are  not  historical  characters,  but 
men  of  the  passing  hour,  rockets  that  shoot  high 
in  the  air  for  the  temporary  delectation  of  the 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  223 

multitude,  and  then  vanish  like  meteors  out  of 
sight.  There  are  others  whose  career  would 
receive  merciful  treatment,  if  their  names  were 
withheld  from  the  historic  page.  But  no,  they 
are  needed  there  to  exhibit  the  dark  back- 
ground of  history,  to  serve  as  warning  to  future 
generations,  and  to  fill  out  the  whole  truth  in 
the  annals  of  the  world. 

There  are  those  also,  at  all  times,  who  accord- 
ing to  their  gifts  and  special  calling  have  lived 
a  useful  life  and  are  approved  of  God,  while 
yet,  if  they  have  a  place  in  history  at  all,  it  is 
only  in  connection  with  others,  without  individ- 
ual i^rominence,  as  the  rank  and  file  of  an  army, 
honored  in  the  mass,  but  otherwise  unknown. 
A  real  historic  personage  is  one  who,  under  the 
guiding  hand  of  God,  has  directed  the  course  of 
history  and  stamped  upon  it  his  character  and 
genius.  Such  were  Moses,  Cyrus,  Alexander, 
C?esar,  jSTapoleon,  Washington,  St.  Paul,  Zwingli, 
Luther,  and  many  others.  Each  has  his  place 
as  a  living  organ  of  historic  energy  in  the  devel- 
opment of  the  human  race. 

Dr.  Nevin  is  a  historical  character  of  the  first 
order.  In  him  there  was  nothing  negative.  A 
man  with  great  natural  qualities  and  acquisitions, 


224  THE    LIFE    OF 

such  as  God  could  use  for  wise  and  gracious 
purposes,  destitude  of  j^ersonal  virtue  and  good- 
ness ;  not  such  was  he,  but  entirely  consecrated 
to  the  service  of  God,  with  all  his  exalted  tal- 
ents and  abilities,  a  leader  of  men,  a  discoverer 
in  the  vast  field  of  truth,  such  as  has  been  rarely 
known,  with  an  authority  in  his  day  that  was 
wonderful  and  far-reaching,  and  is  to-day  with- 
out a  rival.  His  place  in  history  will  be  among 
God's  best  and  mightiest  men. 

Foreign  lestimony. 

As  already  stated.  Dr.  Nevin  was  well  known 
and  highly  estimated  in  England  and  on  the 
continent  of  Europe.  Some  of  the  most  learned 
men  of  the  English  Church  consulted  with  him, 
by  literary  correspondence,  in  regard  to  ques- 
tions of  the  day  that  demanded  solution.  They 
regarded  him  as  an  exceptionally  safe  guide 
through  the  clouds  and  darkness  of  modern 
unbelief  and  theological  vagrancy.  They  read 
his  powerful  productions  with  intense  eagerness, 
and  were  not  ashamed  to  acknowledge  him  their 
master. 

In  Germany,  which  enjoyed  the  pre-eminence 
as  the  land  of  philosophers  and  theologians,  Dr. 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  225 

Nevin  was  ranked  among  the  greatest  men  of 
the  time.  He  was  there  regarded  as  a  tower  of 
strength  and  defence  for  the  true  principles  of 
Protestantism,  or  for  the  truth  wherever  found. 
The  celebrated  Dr.  Doellinger,  of  Munich,  who 
as  a  Roman  Catholic  refused  to  bow  his  neck  to 
the  decree  of  papal  infallibility — a  living  library 
of  learning, — pronounced  Dr.  Nevin  the  great- 
est theologian  America  ever  produced.  He  read 
his  articles  in  the  "  Mercersburg  Review,"  and 
other  writings,  and  told  an  American  clergyman 
that  they  were  by  far  the  best  that  had  come  to 
him  from  the  western  world.  Foreign  testimo- 
nies of  a  similar  character  could  be  jDroduced  in 
abundance,  but  these  are  sufficient  to  show  that 
the  extraordinary  greatness  and  pre-eminence  of 
the  man  is  not  the  fiction  of  an  enthusiastic 
biographer.  His  own  works,  however,  are  the 
best  testimony  to  all  that  has  been  claimed  for 
him.  These  are  his  living  and  speaking  monu- 
ments, whose  inscriptions  the  corrosions  of  time 
will  never  efface. 

2he  Race  is  Ru7i. 

"  I  have  fought  a  good  fight,  I  have  finished 
my  course,  I  have  kept  the  faith  ;  henceforth 


226  THE    LIFE    OF 

there  is  laid  up  for  me  a  crown  of  righteous- 
ness," said  St.  Paul  when  he  was  uearing  the 
goal  of  service  in  tlie  militant  Church  ;  "which 
the  Lord,  the  righteous  Judge,  shall  give  me  at 
that  day :  and  not  to  me  only,  but  unto  all  them 
also  that  love  his  appearing.'^ 

The  last  years  of  Dr.  Nevin's  life  were  years 
of  special  communion  with  his  Saviour,  His 
last  writings  were  mystic  utterances  on  the  deep- 
est and  most  spiritual  sense  of  God's  word.  It 
was  the  lamp  to  his  feet  and  the  light  to  his 
jDath.  The  Spirit  of  Truth  conducted  him  into 
its  profoundest  depths,  where  Christ  was  revealed 
to  his  inmost  consciousness  as  his  present,  living 
Kedeemer,  and  verifying  to  his  waiting  spiiit 
the  truth  of  the  blessed  Gospel,  in  whose  eluci- 
dation and  defence  he  had  devoted  his  long  and 
useful  life.  A  few  years  before  his  death  he 
told  a  friend  that  he  was  giving  the  remainder 
of  his  days  to  special  preparation  for  heaven. 
It  was  a  beautiful  thought,  and  bears  no  resem- 
blance to  the  idea  of  living  a  worldly  life  until 
old  age  warns  of  its  earthly  close,  wlien  pru- 
dence suggests  preparation  for  the  solemn 
change.  Far  from  it.  While  the  true  Christian 
is  always  preparing  for  heaven,   the  active  and 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  227 

vigorous  part  of  his  life  means  not  distinctively 
that,  but  rather  engaging,  in  the  spirit  of  faith 
and  obedience,  in  the  work  of  building  up 
Christ's  kingdom  among  men,  which  involves 
much  labor  and  thought  in  connection  with  the 
common  affairs  of  earth.  An  active  Christian 
life  is  service  of  love  to  mankind,  as  St.  Paul 
tells  us,  doing  good  unto  all  men,  especially  to 
them  who  are  of  the  household  of  faith  (Gal.  6 : 
10).  No  one  can  do  this  without  at  the  same 
time  holding  spiritual  communion  with  God, 
and  looking  after  his  own  spiritual  welfare.  And 
yet,  after  one's  strength  has  been  spent  thus  in 
the  service  of  God  for  the  benefit  of  others,  and 
there  remains  little  to  do  but  to  wait  for  the  sun- 
set of  the  earthly  life,  the  attention  would  prop- 
erly be  turned  es^^ecially  to  one's  own  personal 
interest  in  the  next  world  ;  though  not  in  a 
spirit  of  self-seeking,  as  that  would  be  a  contra- 
diction of  the  whole  idea  of  personal  religion. 
Dr.  Nevin  had  given  the  full  strength  of  his 
manhood  to  the  cause  of  Christ  in  the  world. 
He  might  have  died  in  the  harness,  as  in  the 
case  of  many  other  heroes  of  the  faith  ;  but  it 
pleased  God  to  prolong  his  life  for  some  years 
after  old  age  compelled  him  to  lay  aside  his 


228  THE    LIFE    OF 

regular  work,  and  this  was  for  liiiii  a  precious 
season  of  special  preparation  for  heaven.  He  con- 
tinued, however,  to  the  last  to  manifest  a  dee^) 
interest  in  the  Church  in  general ;  and  while  he 
was  preparing  for  his  own  transfer  to  the  better 
world,  he  was  still,  according  to  his  strength 
and  opportunity,  helping  forward  the  cause  of 
Zion. 

It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  Dr.  Nevin's 
natural  birth  was  on  a  Sunday,  and  that,  after  a 
period  of  over  83  years,  on  a  Lord's  Day  he 
passed  from  the  scenes  of  earth  to  the  heavenly 
state.  He  came  and  departed  on  the  Day  of  the 
Lord,  the  day  of  life  from  the  dead,  when  the 
healing  beams  from  the  Sun  of  Righteousness 
burst  resplendent  over  a  dying  world.  It  seemed 
as  if  the  best  of  days  was  chosen  for  his  entrance 
into  the  life  of  time  and  for  his  blessed  entrance 
into  the  life  immortal.  Thus  entered  into  rest, 
in  the  84th  year  of  his  age,  one  of  the  best  and 
greatest  of  Christ's  servants,  a  prince  and  master 
in  Israel,  and,  as  I  verily  believe,  the  chief 
Apostle  of  the  nineteenth  century. 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  229 

This  biographical  sketch  would  be  still  more 
imperfect  than  it  would  be  otherwise,  if  I  failed 
to  add  a  small  portion  at  least  of  Dr.  Nevin's 
testimony  in  favor  of  a  movement  on  the  part  of 
the  two  Reformed  Churches  in  this  country, 
which  has  lately  ripened  in  a  federal  union. 

Such  a  union  was  effected  by  the  two  General 
Synods  of  the  "  Reformed  Church  in  the  United 
States"  and  the  "Reformed  Church  in  America," 
with  wonderful  unanimity,  and  with  great  re- 
joicings and  thanksgivings  to  God.  This  hap2:)y 
result  was  accomplished  after  several  years  of 
preliminary  work,  much  and  frequent  counsel 
and  earnest  prayer.  It  was  a  glorious  day  for 
Zion  when  it  was  announced  tliat  these  two 
ancient  ecclesiastical  organizations  thus  declared 
their  relationship  as  being  members  of  one  fami- 
ly, and  decided  to  become  more  nearly  one  ex- 
ternally, in  order  that  the  internal  "  unity  of  the 
Spirit"  might  be  more  fully  realized. 

What  was  Dr.  Nevin's  contribution  to  this 
result  ?  I  have  already  spoken  of  liis  sermon  on 
"  Catholic  Unity,"  in  which  he  presented 
thoughts  on  the  Church  which  it  would  be  well 
for  every  one  to  read  and  carefully  ponder.  The 
sermon  was  "  delivered  at  the  opening  of  the 


280  THE    LIFE    OF 

Triennial  Convention  of  the  Reformed  Protest- 
ant Dutch  and  German  Reformed  Churches,  at 
Harrisburo^,  Pa.,  Aug.  8,  1844,"  that  is,  forty- 
six  years  ago.  Parts  of  the  sermon  read  as  if 
delivered  in  June,  1890,  when  these  same  mem- 
bers of  the  old  ecclesiastical  household  flowed 
together  and  were  made  one.  Any  ])erson 
familiar  with  that  discourse  must  perceive  that 
it  was  seed  which  could  not  return  void,  that  it 
took  root  and  produced  blade,  ear  and  the  full 
corn  in  the  ear.  The  closing  words  of  that  great 
sermon  will  be  a  fitting  close  to  this  little  volume. 
"  In  view  of  all  that  has  thus  far  been  said,  we 
may  now  be  prepared,  respected  and  beloved 
brethren  in  the  ministry  and  eldership  of  the 
Reformed  Church,  to  estimate  ariglit  the  weight 
of  the  occasion,  by  which  we  are  brought  together 
this  day.  The  very  object  of  this  convention  is 
to  bring  into  closer  visible  union  the  two  denomi- 
nations we  have  been  appointed  to  represent. 
Apart  altogether  from  the  counsels  and  action  of 
the  convention  itself,  the  simple  fact  that  these 
bodies  have  been  engaged  to  enter  into  the 
friendly  arrangement,  by  which  it  is  called  to 
meet,  deserves  to  be  regarded  with  special  inter- 
est.    In  the  midst  of  the  religious  divisions  and 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  231 

dissensions  that  are  abroad  in  the  land,  it  is 
cheering  to  find  in  any  quarter  an  active  move- 
ment in  fiivor  of  the  opposite  interest.  May  we 
not  trust  that  the  measure  will  be  owned  and 
blessed  of  God,  and  that  through  His  blessing  it 
may  be  folloAved  in  time  to  come  with  conse- 
quences of  good,  far  more  vast  than  we  have 
power  now  to  imagine  ? 

"  It  is  true,  indeed,  that  the  Reformed  Dutch 
and  German  Reformed  Churches  in  this  country 
can  hardly  be  regarded  as  different  denomina- 
tions, and  certainly  not  as  different  sects,  in  any 
right  sense  of  the  term.  They  have  been  from 
the  beginning  substantially  the  same  Church ; 
different  national  branches  only  of  the  one  great 
communion  of  the  Reformed,  as  gloriously  repre- 
sented in  the  ever  memorable  Synod  of  Dort. 
The  faith  of  Switzerland,  the  faith  of  the  Palati- 
nate and  the  faith  of  Holland,  in  the  sixteenth 
century,  were  emphatically  one  faith.  Trans- 
planted to  this  country  too,  the  same  Churches 
have  been  closely  related  from  the  first ;  in  a 
certain  sense  borne  upon  the  knees,  and  nour- 
ished from  the  breast,  of  the  same  compassionate 
mother  .  .  .  Nor  has  tlie  sense  of  this  relation- 
ship been  lost  since  ...     It  is  well  therefore  that 


232  THE    LIFE    OF 

now  in  the  end  we  should  be  permitted  to  re- 
joice in  the  prospect  of  a  communion,  from  this 
time  forward,  more  intimate  and  full.  It  is  well 
that  the  claims  of  our  kindred  life  have  come  to 
make  themselves  so  felt  on  both  sides,  that  we 
are  brought  thus  openly  to  recognize  their  force, 
and  give  visible  expression  to  the  one  spirit  by 
which  we  are  consciously  bound  together.  The 
Church  at  large  have  reason  to  rejoice  in  this 
union.  It  is  something  won  for  the  cause  of 
Catholic  unity,  in  the  broadest  sense,  that  these 
two  divisions  of  the  Reformed  Church  should 
thus  embrace  each  other  in  the  presence  of  the 
whole  world,  and  proclaim  themselves  ourwardly 
as  well  as  inwardly  the  same  ;  '  one  body,  and 
one  Spirit,  even  as  we  are  called  in  one  hope  of 
our  calling.'  .  .  . 

"  It  would  seem  to  lie  in  the  very  nature  of 
the  case,  that  Churches  so  related,  historically, 
ecclesiastically,  and  geographically,  as  the  Ke- 
formed  Dutch  and  German  Reformed  Churches 
in  tliis  country,  sliould  find  occasion  for  common 
counsel  and  common  actiou,  in  many  respects. 
By  wise  co-o])eration  they  may  surely  expect  to 
make  themselves  felt  with  more  etfect  in 
the  land  at  large,  than  they  are  likely  to  be   by 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  233 

standing  wholly  separate  and  apart.  The  inter- 
ests represented  in  the  two  Churches  are  in  all 
material  respects  the  same;  and  this  itself  would 
seem  to  require  that  they  should  regard  them  as 
a  common  cause,  and  combine  their  strength  in 
carrying  them  forward  .  .  . 

"  I  may  be  permitted  in  conclusion  to  say, 
that  the  time  has  come,  when  the  Churches  of 
the  Reformation  generally  have  need  to  seek 
among  themselves  a  closer  correspondence  and 
alliance  than  has  hitherto  prevailed.  The  work 
of  the  Keformation  is  not  yet  complete.  In 
every  movement  of  this  kind  the  direction  taken 
by  the  general  mind  is  liable  in  the  end  to  be- 
come more  or  less  extreme  ;  and  the  consequence 
is  then  a  reaction  towards  the  abandoned  error, 
which  is  often  more  dangerous  to  the  cause  of 
truth  than  all  the  opposition  it  had  to  surmount 
in  the  beginning  .  . .  What  is  wanted  is  a  re- 
publication of  the  principles  of  the  Reformation, 
not  in  the  letter  merely  that  killeth,  but  in  the 
living  spirit  of  the  men  who  wielded  them  with 
such  vast  effect  in  the  sixteenth  century.  Never . 
was  there  a  more  solemn  call  upon  the  Reformed 
Churches  to  clothe  themselves  fully  with  the 
power  of  the  life  that  is  enshrined  in  their  an- 
16 


284  THE    LIFE    OF 

eieiit  symbols.  And  surely,  in  these  circum- 
stances, when  the  very  foundations  of  their 
common  faith  are  threatened,  not  by  a  casual  or 
transient  danger,  but  by  a  force  that  is  lodged 
deep  in  the  very  constitution  of  the  age,  and  may 
be  said  to  carry  in  itself  the  gathered  strength  of 
centuries;  when  questions  of  vital  import,  which 
were  supposed  to  have  been  settled  long  ago  are 
again  to  be  encountered  and  resolved,  on  an  issue 
that  involves  the  very  existence  of  these  Churches 
themselves ;  when  in  one  word  the  vast  struggle 
of  the  Reformation  is  to  be  taken  up  in  its  origi- 
nal spirit  and  carried  forward  through  a  crisis 
that  may  be  considered  final  and  decisive  to  its 
proper  consummation ;  surely,  I  say,  in  circum- 
stances like  these,  the  Churches  in  question 
should  feel  themselves  engaged  to  narrow  as 
much  as  possible  the  measure  of  their  separation, 
and  strengthen  the  consciousness  of  their  unity. 
The  interests  by  which  they  are  divided  are  few 
and  small  as  compared  with  those  that  should 
bind  them  together.  The  glory  of  God  and  the 
honor  of  His  truth,  as  well  as  their  own  common 
safety,  require  that  they  should  stand  out  to  the 
view  of  the  world,  not  as  many,  but  as  one,  the 
Church,  (not  Churches,)  of  tlie  Reformation,  the 


JOHN    W.    NEVIN.  235 

body  of  Clirist,  '  the  pillar  and  ground  of  the 
truth,'  one  body  and  one  Spirit,  even  as  they  are 
called  in  one  hope  of  their  calling.  May  the 
great  Head  of  the  Church  Himself  inter})0se,  in 
ways  that  to  His  own  wisdom  shall  seem  best, 
to  conduct  the  hearts  and  counsels  of  His  people 
to  this  result ;  and  in  the  meantime  bestow  richly 
upon  us  who  are  here  present  the  glorious  power 
of  His  grace,  that  we  may  be  enabled  to  be  faith- 
ful to  this  high  interest,  especially  in  the  exer- 
cise of  the  trust  now  committed  to  our  hands, 
maintaining  the  unity  of  the  Spirit  in  the  bonds 
of  peace." 


THE  END. 


Date  Due 


